By Alfred Acenas
EBC Hawaii-Pacific Bureau
HONOLULU (Eagle News) — One Marine and two U.S. Army soldiers based in Hawaii have been arrested and charged with soliciting sex from minors.
The three active-duty service members are accused of using online platforms to solicit sex from agents posing as children. Investigators say the accused also sent explicit photographs of themselves and asked for explicit pictures in return.
Each was arrested when they tried to meet up with the undercover agents. Authorities have not released the identities of the suspects.
The multiagency undercover operation known as “Operation Keiki Shield” involved investigators and law enforcement officers from various federal and state agencies.
Keiki is a Hawaiian word for child or children.
The operation was led by Hawaii’s Department of the Attorney General’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
It included personnel from Homeland Security Investigations, Honolulu, Naval Criminal Investigative Service, Air Force Office of Special Investigations, Army Criminal Investigation Command, Marine Corps Criminal Investigation Division, and Coast Guard Investigative Service.
Homeland Security provided undercover agents, intelligence research specialists, technological know-how, victim advocates, and a forensic interviewer in this most recent operation.
The Special Agent in Charge of the NCIS Hawaii Field Office says his agency is there to ensure the safety of Navy personnel and their families.
“As the federal law enforcement organization for the Department of the Navy, NCIS exists to protect our warfighters and their families from the criminal threats, including those posed by child sexual predators,” said Norman Dominesey. “NCIS and our federal and local law enforcement partners in Hawaiʻi remain committed to working together to proactively root out crime that threatens the safety of our military and civilian communities.”
Since 2019, the State of Hawaii has worked with county, federal, and military law enforcement partners to conduct operations aimed at protecting the state’s children.
As well as arresting offenders, the state provides counseling and legal services to the victims.
(Eagle News Service)