A youth pastor with a gun in his car, a college administrator who drove to Clay County to meet who he believed was a 14-year-old girl, and a registered sex offender trying to lure a child to his Jacksonville neighborhood were among 12 men arrested in a four-day undercover sting targeting online child exploitation. The suspects ranged in age from 22 to 67, and seven of them allegedly traveled to Clay County intending to meet children for sexual activity, officials said.
The operation, dubbed Operation Firewall, ran for four days beginning July 15 and relied on undercover detectives, analysts, and technical support pulled from local, state, and federal agencies, according to the WJXT News4JAX report on the arrests. Investigators say the sting identified suspects who sought to meet or sexually exploit minors, using a mix of frequently changing online platforms and apps to make contact.
Among those arrested was Nathaniel Poussey Jr., who worked as a music director and youth pastor and who officials say traveled with intent to have sex with a 14-year-old boy. A firearm was found in his vehicle at the time of his arrest, per the same account. Jiron Papo, a 34-year-old college administrator, allegedly traveled to Clay County to meet someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl.
Registered Offender, Active-Duty Serviceman Among Those Charged
Terry Burgher, a 47-year-old registered sex offender from Jacksonville with prior convictions in Texas, allegedly attempted to lure someone he believed was a 14-year-old girl to his neighborhood. Kelvin Cruz, a 23-year-old active-duty serviceman stationed in Georgia, drove more than 50 miles to meet someone he believed was a 13-year-old girl, the report states.
Kamal Singh Dara faces child neglect charges along with online exploitation counts after allegedly driving to Clay County intending to meet a 14-year-old girl while leaving a juvenile relative unattended in his vehicle, officials said. The Clay County Sheriff's Office also arrested five additional suspects whose online activity continued to tie back to child exploitation, and investigators said they are continuing follow-up work on two more subjects.
A Regional Task Force Built To Close Jurisdictional Gaps
Operation Firewall drew participation from the FBI, the Flagler County Sheriff's Office, the Putnam County Sheriff's Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, the Orange Park Police Department, and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, with additional support from the State Attorney's Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit, the Northeast Florida INTERCEPT Task Force, and Operation Light Shine, according to officials cited by News4JAX.
The INTERCEPT Task Force itself is a public-private partnership formed in March 2023 that brought together seven law enforcement agencies — including the Clay County Sheriff's Office, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement — with nonprofit sponsors Operation Light Shine and the Tim Tebow Foundation, according to WJCT News 89.9. The coalition was designed specifically to remove jurisdictional barriers across five Northeast Florida counties. Operation Light Shine, for its part, functions as a private funding engine that supplies software, technical tools, and investigative training to regional task forces free of charge, stepping in when public agency budgets fall short.
The scale of that regional effort has grown substantially. During 2024 alone, the INTERCEPT Task Force opened 1,220 investigations, resolved 728 CyberTips from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, seized 122 electronic devices holding more than 10 million digital files, identified 28 victims, and made 66 arrests, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Clay County Sheriff Michelle Cook has said the task force handled 1,617 total human trafficking and child exploitation cases between its 2023 launch and January, according to Clay Today.
Officials Call For Shared Vigilance As Cases Continue
Daniel Dunn said the arrests underscore the need for agencies to share information and work together to prevent victimization. Ron Lendvay echoed that sentiment, saying these operations show the lengths some people will go to exploit children, and he urged parents to monitor who their children are talking with online and to have ongoing conversations about internet safety.
Traveling to meet a minor after using a computer or electronic service to solicit sexual activity is a second-degree felony under Florida Statute § 847.0135(4), carrying up to 15 years in prison, a $10,000 fine, and mandatory lifetime sex offender registration, according to FindLaw. Florida law permits these charges even when the person believed to be a minor was actually an undercover detective. Investigators say their work is not finished, noting that follow-up efforts can include subpoenas to internet companies as prosecutors build cases against those arrested.
To keep pace with the volume of cases generated by operations like this one, the Fourth Judicial Circuit's State Attorney Melissa Nelson designated Assistant State Attorney Joy Whitmore as the circuit's first dedicated Internet Crimes Against Children prosecutor this past April, tasked with leading search warrants and prosecutions across Clay, Duval, and Nassau counties, per the Office of the State Attorney for Florida's Fourth Judicial Circuit. Operation Firewall is not a new name for Clay County — the sheriff's office previously ran a multi-agency sting under the same title in June 2022 alongside Naval Criminal Investigative Services, an operation that also resulted in felony arrests, including two registered sex offenders.
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