“Operation Lights Out” Targets Online Sexual Predators, Leads to 19 Arrests including Human Trafficking Charges

Columbus, Georgia (April 28, 2025) – A four-day proactive online undercover investigation, coordinated by the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, and the Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office, resulted in the arrest of 19 people on numerous charges, including human trafficking charges. The operation, named “Operation Lights Out,” ran from April 24 through April 28, 2025.

The goal of “Operation Lights Out” was to identify persons who engage in sexually explicit communication with children on the Internet, arrange to engage in a sex act with the child, and then travel to meet the child for the purpose of having sex. Additionally, the operation targeted those who are willing to exploit children by purchasing sex with a minor. Online child predators use social media sites, messaging apps, and websites on the Internet to find children, begin conversations with them, introduce sexual content, and arrange a meeting with the child for the purpose of having sex. Boys and girls are both targeted by these predators.

The following people were arrested and charged:

• Isael Alvarez-Alvarez, age 43, of Columbus, Georgia, occupation: unknown; charged with Human Trafficking and subject to an ICE Detainer.
• Marquise Anderson, age 37, of Seale, Alabama, occupation: truck driver; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Darnell Brooks, age 40, of Box Springs, Georgia, occupation: laborer; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Roger Burkes, age 62, of Columbus, Georgia, occupation: aircraft inspector; charged with Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007.
• Javious Davenport, age 30, of LaGrange, Georgia, occupation: forklift operator; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Kevin Edosomwan, age 38, of Atlanta, Georgia, occupation: HVAC technician; charged with Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007.
• Jonathan Evans, age 46, of LaGrange, Georgia, occupation: sanitation worker; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Galvin Latrell Gordey, age 44, of Pittsview, Alabama, occupation: sanitation worker; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Muhammed Gwandu, age 68, of Ontario, Canada, occupation: unknown; charged with Human Trafficking and subject to an ICE Detainer.
• Gene Melner, age 37, of Palatine, Illinois, occupation: truck driver; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Greggory Corbitt Meeks, age 45, of LaGrange, Georgia, occupation: delivery driver; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Colton Lee McLamb, age 23, of Valley, Alabama, occupation: forklift operator; charged with Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007.
• Zidarius Poole, age 21, of Columbus, Georgia, occupation: unemployed; charged with Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007.
• Hunter Salmi, age 22, of Phenix City, Alabama, occupation: mechanic; charged with Computer or Electronic Pornography and Child Exploitation Prevention Act of 2007.
• Marco Antonio Santos Chavez, age 30, of Fort Payne, Alabama, occupation: painter; charged with Human Trafficking and subject to an ICE Detainer.
• Anthony Seldon, age 34, of Columbus, Georgia, occupation: janitor; charged with Human Trafficking, Fleeing and Attempting to Elude, Reckless Driving, and Willful Obstruction of Law Enforcement Officers.
• Cameron Shelley, age 25, of Columbus, Georgia, occupation: truck driver; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Jungmok Shin, age 33, of Phenix City, Alabama, occupation: engineer; charged with Human Trafficking.
• Carl Sprayberry, age 32, of Columbus, Georgia, occupation: chef; charged with Human Trafficking.

Additional charges and arrests may follow.

“Operation Lights Out” took months of planning and involved the collaboration of 12 law enforcement agencies, consisting of local, state, and federal agencies that are part of the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The arrestees, ranging in age from 21 to 68, traveled from areas around Columbus, Georgia, with the intent to meet a child for sex. GBI digital forensic investigators were on hand during the operation to forensically process 21 electronic devices that were seized as evidence during the operation.

During “Operation Lights Out,” undercover investigators posing as children had numerous exchanges with persons on various social media and Internet platforms. During many of these exchanges, the subjects directed conversations with the child towards sex. 35 cases were established that met the threshold for arrest. 19 of those cases were concluded with arrests after the perpetrator attempted to meet the “child” in person. In some of these cases, the subject introduced obscene or lude content, often exposing what the perpetrator thought was a child to pornography or requesting the child to produce and send sexual or pornographic images for them. About half of the exchanges involved websites used for dating, socializing, or even websites used for classified advertisements.

Although some websites promote themselves as being for “adults only”, it is not uncommon for law enforcement to work cases in which children access these sites, establish profiles claiming to be older, and then find themselves vulnerable to victimization, harassment, blackmail, or assault. Several subjects were identified as communicating simultaneously with multiple investigators posing as minors. Such activity confirms what investigators uncover conducting these types of investigations: that many predators specifically seek out minors on the internet to groom the children as potential victims for sexual contact.

“It takes collaboration and a team effort to protect the children in our community,” said SAC Brian Johnston. “Operation Lights Out was a proactive investigation. We as law enforcement were working in an undercover operation to stop predators. These same predators would have been targeting the children of this community.”

“I want to make a plea with parents to closely monitor your children to ensure they are not communicating with these individuals,” said Muscogee County Sheriff Greg Countryman. “These predators will travel from near and far to victimize your children. We take these crimes against children very seriously. It will be our focus to find these predators so they may be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Twelve law enforcement agencies, all partners in the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children’s Task Force, participated in “Operation Lights Out.” These agencies were:

• Muscogee County Sheriff’s Office
• Georgia Bureau of Investigation (Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, Georgia Information and Sharing Analysis Center, West Georgia Gang Task Force).
• Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office
• Jasper County Sheriff’s Office
• Colquitt County Sheriff’s Office
• Polk County Police Department
• Homeland Security Investigations
• United States Army Criminal Investigations Division
• Gwinnett County Police Department
• Forsyth County Sheriff's Office
• United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement
• United States Secret Service

The Georgia ICAC Task Force is comprised of 290 local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, other related criminal justice agencies, and prosecutors’ offices. The Georgia ICAC Task Force, managed by the GBI, is one of 61 such task forces in the United States. The mission of the ICAC Task Forces, created by the U.S. Department of Justice, is to assist state and local law enforcement agencies in developing an effective response to technology-facilitated child exploitation. This support encompasses forensic and investigative components, training and technical assistance, victim services, prevention, and community education. The ICAC Program was developed in response to the increasing number of children and teenagers using the Internet, the proliferation of child sexual abuse material, and the heightened online activity by predators searching for unsupervised contact with underage victims. By helping state and local law enforcement agencies develop effective and sustainable responses to online child victimization and child sexual abuse material, the ICAC program delivers national resources at the local level. Any Georgia law enforcement agency wishing to join the GA ICAC Task Force is encouraged to contact the GBI’s Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit.

Anyone with information about these cases or other cases of child exploitation is asked to contact the Georgia Bureau of Investigation Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit at 404-270-8870 or report via the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline at CyberTipline.org. Anonymous tips can also be submitted by calling 1-800-597-TIPS (8477), online at https://gbi.georgia.gov/submit-tips-online, or by downloading the See Something, Send Something mobile app.