Nearly 150 People Suspected Of Sexually Exploiting Kids Arrested In IE Law Enforcement Operations

RIVERSIDE COUNTY, CA — During a yearlong Riverside County law enforcement investigation that identified more than 500 suspected child pornography distributors, 42 people were arrested, the District Attorney's office announced Monday.

It follows news of a similar operation in San Bernardino County that saw 101 arrests.

Riverside County Operation

The arrestees included residents from across the region, including in Banning, Beaumont, the Coachella Valley, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, Murrieta, and Temecula, as well as other cities, according to the Riverside County District Attorney's Office.

The investigation — dubbed Operation Volcano — was conducted from March 2025 through March 2026. It focused "on high-risk offenders and dismantling online exploitation networks operating within the region," according to the DA's office.

More than 500 unique Internet Protocol (IP) addresses were associated with the distribution of child pornography, the DA's office reported.

"Each case was evaluated using a structured triage methodology to identify high-risk offenders, including individuals with prior sex offense histories, those under active criminal justice supervision, and individuals in positions of public trust or working in professions that serve children," according to the DA's office.

During the investigation, 46 search warrants were served at residences countywide, resulting in the 42 arrests, the DA's office reported.

"Fourteen of those arrested were identified as high-risk offenders, including an individual with a $2 million arrest warrant for child sexual assault, a child psychologist, a naturopathic doctor, a retired law enforcement employee, a California prison information technology employee, a local government planning director, a Southern California hospital chief technology officer, a notary public, a United States Postal Service employee, two corporate vice presidents, and three registered sex offenders," according to the DA's office.

Arrest dates were unavailable for most of the suspects, many of whom are no longer in custody.

The DA's office released a partial list of arrestees (name, age, city of residence):

Feliciano Chavarria, 62, Lake Elsinore
Enrique Castaneda, 51, Riverside
Eric Thai, 43, Menifee

James Munson, 32, San Jacinto
William Zahn, 48, Riverside
John Carrico, 52, Murrieta
Jason Lee, 51, Banning
Brian Erwin, 46, Beaumont
Daniel Malcolm, 46, Bermuda Dunes
Randolph Velasco, 44, Lake Elsinore
Marcus Guevara, 21, Winchester
Christopher Gibbons, 39, Moreno Valley
Allen Cox, 81, Menifee
David Poggi, 59, Menifee
Zixiang Cheng, 32, Murrieta
Ray Kubal, 75, Menifee
Ethan Conely, 29, Menifee
Jessie Bonales, 40, Temecula
Nicholas Williams, 39, Norco
Daniel Cunningham, 43, Corona
Adam Robinson, 38, Riverside
Kenneth Camron, 68, Menifee
Neftali Jimenez, 21, Riverside
Robert Schaar, 53, Temecula
Victor Sepulveda, 60, Moreno Valley
Stuart Triplett, 61, Temecula
Jame Davis, 60, Lake Elsinore
Xinyi Su, 22, Mira Loma
Mark Tyler, 66, Perris
Rickson Jao, 62, Eastvale
Stacey Parker, 62, Moreno Valley
Chas Rico, 30, Murrieta
Jonathan Jordan, 27, Moreno Valley
Jeremiah Davis, 21, Hemet
Dustin Jenks, 56, Palm Springs
Richard Mckeehan Jr, 48, Moreno Valley
Anthony Ramirez, 39, Nuevo
Daniel Chico, 21, Riverside

All of the arrestees are presumed innocent until proven guilty.

San Bernardino County Operation

On May 5, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department announced it had just concluded Operation Firewall, a two-week effort "to identify and apprehend individuals exploiting children through the internet." It resulted in 101 arrests.

Arrest charges included possession and distribution of child sexual abuse material, arranging to meet with a minor for sexual purposes, sending lewd photographs to a minor, lewd acts with a minor, and violations of sex offender registration requirements, according to the sheriff's department.

Beyond the arrests, 16 children were "removed from environments of further abuse and exploitation," the law enforcement agency reported.