Fourteen people, ages 19 to 75, now face a combined 68 charges after a multi-agency sting targeting suspected child sexual predators wrapped up across Lee County and surrounding North Carolina counties. The arrests, made between July 7 and July 31, ranged from local Sanford addresses to out-of-state pickups in Kentucky and Las Vegas.
The Lee County Sheriff's Office led the operation, coordinating with the North Carolina Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force to identify and arrest individuals allegedly exploiting or attempting to exploit children, according to Sandhills Sentinel. The N.C. State Bureau of Investigation confirmed the results of the sweep in a press release, and the operation drew in a wide roster of partner agencies, including the Invictus Task Force, along with sheriff's offices in Alamance, Davidson, Forsyth, Randolph, and Rockingham counties, per the same reporting.
Lee County Sheriff Brian Estes said protecting children from sexual predators remains a top priority, a statement that underscores the scope of an operation that stretched well beyond the county's own borders. Several of the accused now face some of the most serious charges under North Carolina's exploitation statutes, while others were caught up on solicitation counts tied to online conversations that investigators say crossed into criminal territory.
Local Arrests Carry the Heaviest Charge Counts
Jerry Allen Smith, 52, was arrested on Sheriff Watson Road in Sanford on July 13 and charged with 10 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor. Gregory Jones, 60, faced an identical count of 10 charges after his July 14 arrest on Edgewater Drive in Broadway. Daniel Ortiz Alvarado, 22, was arrested on Buckhorn Road in Sanford on July 17 and charged with 8 counts of the same offense.
Other Sanford-area arrests included Kameron Devaughn Petty, 19, charged with 3 counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor after his July 13 arrest on Deep River Road, and Aaron Levi Harvey, 31, who faced the same 3-count charge following his arrest on Chris Cole Road that same day. Christian Guerrero, 19, was arrested on W Makepeace Street in Sanford on July 15 and charged with 2 felony counts, while Christian Cornell Cerrato, 24, arrested July 16 on W Harrington Avenue in Broadway, was charged with a single count.
Michael Richard Shaw, 37, was arrested on Gunter Lake Road in Sanford on July 7 and charged with 3 counts of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult, a distinct charge from the exploitation counts filed against most other suspects in the sweep.
Solicitation Charges and Out-of-State Arrests
Several suspects were charged specifically under North Carolina's computer solicitation statute, which covers using electronic communication to solicit a child for an unlawful sex act. Wayne David Morelock, 67, was arrested on E Main Street in Albemarle on July 14 and charged with 1 count. Bradley Kevin Lowe, 41, arrested July 17 on Parsons Mill Road in Castle Hayne, faced 2 counts, and Bobby Eugene Malone, 75, was arrested on Sheriff Watson Road in Sanford on July 31 and charged with 1 count.
The operation's reach extended past North Carolina's borders. George Worth Watson, 67, was arrested on S Hwy 53 in La Grange, Kentucky, on July 16 and charged with 1 count of solicitation of a child by computer to commit sex acts. Francis Osgood Yan, 55, was arrested in Las Vegas on July 31 and hit with a far broader set of charges: 1 count of solicitation of a minor by computer, 1 count of felony attempted statutory rape of a child under 15, 1 count of indecent liberties with a minor, 1 count of attempted statutory sex offense with a child under 15, and 3 counts of disseminating harmful material to a minor.
A 14th arrest came in Rockingham County, where 28-year-old Jadon Michael Anderson was taken into custody on July 20 on a four-count warrant. WHKY reported the charges against Anderson included solicitation of a minor by computer, felony second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, indecent liberties with a minor, and disseminating harmful material to a minor. All 14 individuals arrested in the sting are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.
How North Carolina's Task Force Network Handles the Caseload
The sweep fits into a much larger enforcement infrastructure built specifically to keep pace with a surging volume of online exploitation reports. More than 200 local and state law enforcement agencies participate in North Carolina's statewide Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, which is commanded by the State Bureau of Investigation's Computer Crimes Unit, according to Patrick Roberts Law. The Invictus Task Force, one of the key regional partners in the Lee County operation, operates as a multi-agency coalition across central North Carolina counties and receives supplemental funding from the nonprofit Invictus Project to give smaller sheriff's offices access to advanced digital forensics tools, per the group's own materials.
That infrastructure exists because the caseload has exploded. Reports of online child exploitation in North Carolina surged 1,115% between 2019 and 2026, according to State Bureau of Investigation data reported by WRAL-TV. The Randolph County Sheriff's Office noted in a February statement that more than 52,000 CyberTips from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children were submitted across North Carolina in a single recent year, each one requiring forensic review by investigators before an arrest can even be considered.
State lawmakers moved to address the strain in 2021, allocating $3 million through the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association to help local departments build digital forensic capacity and fund ICAC investigations, according to the association. The Lee County sweep also echoes a tactic regional task forces have used before: a prior operation coordinated by the Invictus Task Force and the State Bureau of Investigation resulted in 23 arrests across four central North Carolina counties over a two-week period, according to the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office.
What the Charges Could Mean Legally
Under North Carolina General Statute § 14-190.17, second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor — which covers distributing, receiving, or possessing visual depictions of a minor engaged in explicit activity — is a Class E felony carrying a statutory prison term ranging from 15 to 63 or more months, per Patrick Roberts Law. Solicitation of a child by computer under N.C.G.S. § 14-202.3 is a Class H felony complete upon electronic communication alone, but the charge escalates to a Class G felony with longer presumptive prison time if a suspect physically shows up at a meeting location, the firm notes.
Convictions on either charge would also carry consequences beyond prison time. North Carolina General Statute § 14-208.6 classifies computer child solicitation and sexual exploitation of a minor as sexually violent offenses requiring mandatory inclusion on the state's Sex Offender Registry. Whether digital forensic examinations of seized devices will produce additional charges against any of the 14 defendants, and how extradition proceedings for the out-of-state arrests in Kentucky and Nevada will unfold, remain open questions as the cases move through the courts.
