GEORGIA () – A statewide child exploitation operation dubbed “Operation Byte Down” has led to the arrest of 17 people, 2 locally. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation (GBI) Child Exploitation and Computer Crimes Unit, along with 33 other agencies that are members of the Georgia Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, participated in the operation.

Operation Byte Down identified 13 children that were living in households where online child sexual exploitation was occurring and one of those arrested admitted to current or prior hands-on sexual offenses against a child.

The following people were arrested during Operation Byte Down and charged with Sexual Exploitation of Children and other related offenses:Kong Hon Yim, age 63, of Duluth, Georgia, booked into the Gwinnett County Jail

• Ezequiel Ortiz, age 30, of Duluth, Georgia, booked into the Gwinnett County Jail
• Jianglin Meng, age 26, of Norcross, Georgia, booked into the Gwinnett County Jail
• Morgan Albright, age 18, of Winder, Georgia, booked into the Barrow County Jail
• Steven Michael Yanizeski, age 28, of Evans, Georgia, booked into the Columbia County Jail
• Chaunansheng Fu, age 28, of Doraville, Georgia, booked into the DeKalb County Jail
• Steven Ray Mendenhall, age 53, of Macon, Georgia, booked into the Bibb County Jail
• Elvis Beltran Pineda, age 25, of Alpharetta, Georgia, booked into the Forsyth County Jail
• Richard Jason Lowery, age 43, of Augusta, Georgia, booked into the Richmond County Jail

• Patrick Dulebohn, age 43, of Savannah, Georgia, booked into the Chatham County Jail
• Dennis Farmer, age 65, of Tifton, Georgia, booked into the Tift County Jail
• Christian Havanki, age 29, of Pooler, Georgia, booked into the Chatham County Jail
• Thomas Walker, age 37, of Helen, Georgia, booked into the White County Jail
• Derrick Long, age 25, of Kingsland, Georgia, booked into the Camden County Jail
• Jonathan Sells, age 39, of Cleveland, Georgia, booked into the White County Jail
• Todd Shelton, age 61, of Acworth, Georgia, booked into the Cherokee County Jail
• Timothy Grimsley, age 36, of Tifton, Georgia, booked into the Tift County Jail

The GBI says that during Operation Byte Down, law enforcement agencies within the Georgia ICAC Task Force executed 30 residential search warrants across the State of Georgia. These search warrants and other enforcement actions resulted in the arrest of 17 people. Digital forensic investigators previewed 137 electronic devices on scene and seized 361 electronic devices, including cellular phones, tablets, computers, hard drives, and various electronic data storage devices.

More arrests are possible once complete forensic processing of the seized electronic devices are complete.