It has been reported that a North Carolina couple has been arrested on charges of preparing horrific child abuse material as part of a sting operation.
Carmen Delia Foley, 31, and Darrell Edwin Foley, 34, face multiple counts of child sex crimes. These heinous crimes involve underage victims between the ages of 12 months and 12 years.
WRAL news reports,
Darrell was arrested in January and charged with 10 counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor. The arrest warrant stated that the victims included children between the ages of one and 12 years. Darrell has already been charged with crimes.
Carmen was arrested Thursday and charged with three counts of first-degree exploitation of a minor and two counts of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult.
In September 2023, investigators traced three videos containing child pornography to an IP address belonging to Darrell, search warrants said. Investigators said this gave them probable cause to search Foley's home.
Investigators found files from Foley's devices depicting Darrell and Carmen engaging in sexual acts with a girl under the age of 5, according to search warrants.
Carmen is being held on a $3 million bond, and Darryl is being held on a $450,000 bond.
During Operation Winter Guardian, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and the Garner Police Department conducted a joint investigation to uncover child pornography, according to news reports from WYFF Channel 4 News.
Officials described the operation as taking place during the week of January 8-12, when undercover law enforcement investigators went online and engaged in conversations with people trying to meet juveniles for sexual activity.
Some of these people then traveled to Gaston County to meet the person they believed was a child to perform those sexual acts.
The second phase of the operation involved investigators executing search warrants at several locations across the state identified as distribution points where images of child sexual exploitation were being shared.
“At a time when we are seeing a record number of CyberTip reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, it is imperative that we continue to conduct proactive investigations like this,” said NCICAC Commander and Special Agent in Charge of SBI, Kevin Roughton. “No cases in this operation were reported to anyone. Without the combined efforts of our local, state, and federal partner agencies, it is possible that these perpetrators would still be engaged in the same criminal acts today, but more importantly, the children who were protected would likely continue to fall victim.” Victims over and over without anyone knowing or nobody coming to help them.”
As a result of these investigations, at least five children were identified and protected from further abuse.
