LIBERTY — Thanks to the efforts of the Village of Liberty Police Department and the Sullivan County District Attorney’s Office, two separate investigations targeting online child predators and non-compliant registered sex offenders have concluded with the arrests of 16 individuals.

Dubbed “Operation Dangerous DMs” and “Operation Registry Repo,” the investigations targeted both new online threats and registered offenders violating state law. The larger scope and details of the investigations were outlined last Thursday afternoon by Village of Liberty Police Chief Steven D’Agata and Sullivan County District Attorney Brian Conaty at the Village of Liberty Municipal Building.

Operating as a dedicated, under-the-radar initiative that spanned many months, Liberty police officers took the guise of underage children on digital messaging and social media platforms with the goal of identifying adults seeking online sexual contact with minors.

D’Agata noted that the opportunity to cease communications was presented to the individuals when the truth about their supposed “peer” was revealed, but the contact persisted regardless. As such, these chats were not short or simple. In many cases, suspects engaged in sexually graphic media and explicit communications over the course of many days or weeks, with several ultimately arranging to meet at a location with the minors, only to be greeted by waiting detectives.

The undercover initiative led to the arrest of six individuals charged with a slew of felonies, including attempted promotion of a sexual performance by a child, attempted dissemination of indecent material to minors, attempted second-degree rape and attempted luring of a child.

“The only difference was that the person on the other side of the keyboard was not a 12- or 13-year-old child they thought they were talking to,” D’Agata noted. “It was a police officer. That allowed us to intervene before an actual child had to become a victim.”

Conaty also stressed the need for proactive digital enforcement, pointing out that modern technology allows predators to try alternate routes when targeting youth, including veiling themselves under false pretenses of online anonymity and working within “the dark corners of the internet”.

“A person looking to exploit a child no longer has to approach that child at a park in public or on the street,” Conaty stressed, reminding that prosecutors will not restrain themselves from pursuing charges.

“They can attempt to gain access to a phone through social media or a direct message. Law enforcement is now aggressively operating in that same space,” he said.

Conaty also reminded parents to stay vigilant in monitoring their children’s online presence, in addition to educating them about internet safety.

The second operation, dubbed “Operation Registry Repo,” focused on registered sex offenders residing in the Village of Liberty, with the goal of enforcing compliance under New York State’s Sex Offender Registration Act (SORA).

A comprehensive audit of local registration records and a coordinated sweep that occurred on August 12 led to the arrest of 10 registered offenders. The charges mainly involve felony counts for failing to report changes of address or neglecting to register online identifiers such as social media profiles, secondary usernames and gaming profiles.

To any registered offender living in Liberty who fails to adhere to the statutory mandates, D’Agata gives this direct warning:

“Get out. You are not welcome in our community,” he emphasized. “If you nevertheless choose to reside here, understand that your registration requirements will be monitored and investigated. If you deliberately conceal where you are living or hide your online identity, we are going to find out, we are going to investigate you, and we will arrest you.”

Both Conaty and D’Agata gave special thanks to the lead investigators in the cases, commending Officer Matthew Brooks, Sergeant Christopher Orlando and Officer Matthew O’Keefe for their work in both operations.

The 16 defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.