GBI Operation “Happy New Year” Leads to the Arrest of 11 Child Exploitation Offenders

Decatur, GA (February 1, 2023) – The GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes (CEACC) Unit and the GBI’s Special Enforcement Team (SET) partnered from January 23-26, 2023, to execute multiple residential search warrants on unrelated child exploitation investigations. The operation was the result of months of planning and was named operation “Happy New Year”. The CEACC Unit, the host agency for Georgia’s Internet Crimes Against Children’s Task Force, executed a total of 17 search warrants in Clayton, DeKalb, Newton, Spalding, Gwinnett, and Fulton Counties during this four-day period.  As a result, eleven individuals were arrested and charged with Child Exploitation offenses. The cases involved CyberTips received from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, individuals using computer peer-to-peer file sharing networks for the collection and dissemination of Child Sexual Abuse Material (CSAM), and individuals engaged in sexually explicit or obscene internet contact with a child. As a result of the search warrants, over 230 digital devices were previewed on scene by GBI digital forensic investigators assigned to the CEACC unit. Many of these devices were seized and will be subjected to full digital forensic processing which will likely result in more arrests.

The following individuals were arrested during Operation Happy New Year:

Sudesh Rajkoomar, age 26, arrested in Newton County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (3counts).

Jeoffrey Jenkins, age 18, arrested in Dekalb County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (2 counts).

Miguel Castillo, age 45, arrested in Clayton County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (1 count).

Brent Felix, age 50, arrested in Dekalb County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (4 counts).

Joshua Casey, age 37, arrested in Clayton County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (1 count).

Timothy Smallwood, age 41, arrested in Spalding County for Obscene Internet Contact with a Child (12 counts).

Louis Belgio, age 56, arrested in Clayton County Sexual Exploitation of Children (3 counts).

Omalin Jahir Perez-Carrasco, age 24, arrested in Clayton County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (3 counts).

La’Quantay Stevens, age 23, arrested in Dekalb County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (5 counts).

James Burns, Jr. age 62, arrested in Gwinnett County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (8 counts).

Jesus Mireles-Aguilar, age 25, arrested in Fulton County for Sexual Exploitation of Children (7 counts). 

Those arrested were taken to the county jail where the arrests took place.  The GBI was assisted in Operation Happy New Year by the Gwinnett County Police Department, the Newton County Sheriff’s Office, the Spalding County Sheriff’s Office, the DeKalb County Police Department, the Atlanta Police Department, Clayton County Police Department, and Homeland Security Investigations. 

Operation “Happy New Year” is part of the ongoing effort by the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, housed within the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, to identify those involved in the child pornography trade. The ICAC Program, created by the U. S. Department of Justice, was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the Internet, the proliferation of child pornography, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims.

Anyone with information about these cases or other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation Unit at 404-270-8870 or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org.

Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS(8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.