Tulsa County Sheriff's Office Expands Child Predator Unit

Tulsa County Deputies arrest six men in the last month accused of messaging who they thought was a 14-year-old girl to have sex, but was actually an undercover deputy.

Deputies say no matter how many they arrest, there are still many more out there.

Detective Jason Weis has spent his entire career going after child predators and at the sheriff's office, he had been doing it solo, until recently. They now have two full-time detectives working in the child predator unit, trying to put a dent in the growing problem.

"We could have another five deputies doing this and we would still be busy. We would still be doing this all day every day. It is unbelievable how many people are out there searching for children,” said Weis.

Deputies have arrested two men in the last week accused of sexually related crimes involving children. Connor Moore from Collinsville is accused of trading images of child sexual abuse over Snapchat.

Jordan Wallace from Sapulpa is accused of sending sexual messages and naked pictures of himself to an undercover deputy, who was pretending to be a 14-year-old girl.

"They are looking for that vulnerability, they are looking for that way in so that they can exploit that weakness, that vulnerability so they can get what they want,” said Weis.

Detective Weis says that people sharing child pornography is in no way a victimless crime.

"There is a high percentage of these people that are downloading and trading and distributing child pornography that is actual hands-on offenders,” said Weis.

Tulsa County Sheriff Vic Regalado wanted to expand their efforts to catch child predators so they added a second detective to the unit. Detective Matt Gray has been working the unit for a few months now and has quickly seen how big the problem is.

"Coming on here I am directly involved in it and I mean they are everywhere. They could be your next-door neighbor, the person you are going to church with, you don't know until you follow that IP address,” said Gray.

Deputies say parents have to constantly pay attention to what their kids are doing online.

"Don't bury your head in the sand. Don't think it can't happen to you. It is really just a matter of time. It is a matter of when not a matter of if."

The child predator unit also teaches classes to parents and students about what to look for and how to keep safe from these online predators.