26 arrested in child pornography, sex offender registration cases in Riverside County

Riverside investigators arrested 26 people in April on suspicion of possession of child pornography and failure to register as sex offenders with law enforcement, authorities announced.

The arrests were made as the Riverside County district attorney’s office child exploitation task force conducted 52 sex offender compliance checks in the city of Hemet alone. Five people were arrested on suspicion of parole term violations and 13 arrests were made on suspicion of failure to register as sex offenders.

The task force also assisted federal investigators in the arrest of one person on suspicion of possession of child pornography, the DA’s office announced Wednesday.

During the monthlong operation, investigators with the Riverside County Child Exploitation Team arrested a registered sex offender from San Diego County in an online undercover operation. Authorities said the man traveled to the city of Riverside, thinking he was going to meet with a child for sex.

Investigators arrested six people on suspicion of possession of child pornography after they served search warrants in the cities of Beaumont, Corona, Indio, Lake Elsinore, Moreno Valley and Murrieta. One of those arrested was a registered sex offender, according to the DA’s office.

The task force is a partnership between several law enforcement agencies in Riverside County including federal and state agencies, the FBI, the Inland Regional Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking task force, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, and U.S. Marshals Service.