Chatroom Crackdown Nets 10 Arrests

Ten Tampa Bay area residents face a host of charges following a multi-day, multi-agency crackdown on people accused of using online chatrooms and websites to meet minors for sexual encounters.

The results of the four-day “Operation Intercept” were announced by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Tuesday morning. That operation ran June 11-14 and included such agencies as the Clearwater and Sarasota police departments, Polk, Lake and Osceola sheriff’s offices and Homeland Security. The operation was conducted out of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office command center in Largo. It comes on the heels of similar operations in 2014 that resulted in the arrest of 67 men.

“As a result of these 67 arrests, 30 cases have been resolved in the court system with 16 defendants being sentenced to jail and 14 receiving probation,” the sheriff’s office wrote in an email to media. “Two cases resulted in charges not being filed by the State Attorney. The State Attorney has filed charges against the remaining 35 arrested suspects and their cases are pending disposition.”

This latest operation involved investigators who posed as minors online using various websites, chatrooms and social media sites. Investigators worked to establish rapport with the suspects and “developed cases where the suspects would arrange to meet with the ‘minor’ for the purpose of sexual activity,” the email said.

When all was said and done, 10 people found themselves facing criminal charges. They are:

Damon Canterbury, 32, Pinellas Park

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor

Yazer Vargas O’Connor, 31, Clearwater

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor

Chad Renner, 24, St. Petersburg

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor, Transmission of Harmful Material, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Paraphernalia

Jacob Steven Knowles, 27, Clearwater

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor

Husein Durakovic, 29, St. Petersburg

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor

Corey Brand, 24, St. Petersburg

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor, Possession of Marijuana, Possession of Paraphernalia

Michael Hill, 27, Pinellas Park

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor, Transmission of Harmful Material

Michael Beckford, 34, Largo

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor

Mohamed Areef Hayathu Mohamed , 42, St. Petersburg

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor

Keith Chatfield , 23, Riverview

• Charges: Traveling to Meet a Minor

Photos courtesy of the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office. Chad Renner, 1, Corey Brand, 2, Damon Canterbury, 3, Husein Durakovic, 4, Jacob Steven Knowles, 5, Keith Chatfield, 6, Michael Beckford, 7, Michael Hill, 8, Mohamed Areef Hayathu Mohamed, 9, Yazer Vargas O’Connor, 10.