After a multi-agency investigation, 12 suspects were arrested and charged with seducing a minor to engage in sexual conduct, traveling to meet a minor for sexual activity and use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden, the Escambia and Santa Rosa county sheriff’s offices, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach police departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and U.S. Marshals Service participated in the operation.
FDLE Pensacola Special Agent in Charge Chris Williams said, “These suspects asked for lewd photos and communicated in graphic sexual terms. Luckily our FDLE agents and analysts, along with our partners, found them before they found our children. And while this operation is finished, we are not. The work of these investigators continues because we know there are more predators out there just waiting for the opportunity to hurt a child.”
Fort Walton Beach Police Chief Robert Bage said, “I would like to thank all the agencies that collaborated on Operation Kessel Run to help ensure a safer a more secure community. We must all work together to protect our most value asset, our children.”
“Working together, the FBI and our local law enforcement partners have prevented these predators from victimizing the most innocent and vulnerable members of our community,” said FBI Jacksonville’s Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Dargis. “Let these arrests be a warning to others – law enforcement will not tolerate the exploitation of children, and we will be relentless in our efforts to identify and locate predators who seek to abuse them.”
“These predators preyed on the innocence of children by knowingly engaging in lewd and lascivious online conduct, only to take it a step further and agreeing to meet in person and turn those conversations into action,” said Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Tallahassee Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nicholas Ingegno. “Operation Kessel Run was a successful joint investigation, but there is still more work that must be done. HSI, alongside our law enforcement partners, will never rest in identifying, investigating, and prosecuting predators who seek to use children for their perverse behaviors and make them lifelong victims.”
“The success of this operation was due to the seamless working partnerships between all of the state, local, and federal agencies involved in its execution. OSI was also able to play a pivotal role in the success of this operation due to the significant military presence in Northwest Florida,” said Special Agent Devon Messick, the Air Force OSI Commander at Hurlburt Field, Florida.
“The “Kessel Run” joint operation is an example of law enforcement partnerships, enabling the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) to leverage combined expertise and effort, to target online sexual predators who attempt to prey on our communities. NCIS thanks the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, federal and state agencies, and local partners for the continued collaboration on impactful joint internet operations to protect the communities where our warfighters and their families reside,” said NCIS Supervisory Special Agent Myles Roy.
During the multiday operation, suspects communicated with undercover investigators posing as juveniles. Each suspect was told they were communicating with a teenager, but chose to engage in sexually explicit conversations anyway, asking for lewd photos and discussing how they planned to be sexually active with the “child.” Following the conversations, the suspects drove to meet the investigators, thinking they were meeting 13 and 14-year old children to engage in sexual activity.
Arrests:
- Darryl Lamont Hart, 57, Pensacola, arrested 2/23/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Clayton Patrick Costello, 37, Hoover, Alabama, arrested 2/24/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Randy Edgar Powell, 52, Pensacola, arrested 2/24/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Telvan Latrell Williams, 28, Mobile, Alabama, arrested 2/24/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Kriss Lashawn Gilmore, 31, Foley, Alabama, arrested 2/24/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Alex Michael Durlock, 24, Fort Walton Beach, arrested 2/25/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Jordan Christopher Belton, 28, Pensacola, arrested 2/25/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Raphael Rochelle Brooks, 39, Robertsdale, Alabama, arrested 2/25/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- William John Nordstrom, 64, Pensacola, arrested 2/25/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Eric Wintin Long, 33, Montgomery, Alabama, arrested 2/26/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Patrick Jay Dehnel, 33, Slidell, Louisiana, arrested 2/28/24, booked into Escambia County Jail;
- Jamaine Antonia Johnson, 32, Pensacola, arrested 3/4/24, booked into Escambia County Jail.
For more information on how to protect your child online, please visit https://secureflorida.org.
Search Florida’s Sex Offender Registry here: https://offender.fdle.state.fl.us/offender/sops/home.jsf.
The Office of the State Attorney, First Judicial Circuit, is prosecuting the case.
