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On Tuesday, the FBI revealed a significant breakthrough in a nationwide crackdown on child sexual abuse, announcing the arrest of over 350 individuals linked to such offenses.
Dubbed Operation Iron Pursuit, the initiative successfully identified more than 200 child victims. This extensive operation was a collaborative effort involving all 56 FBI field offices across the country, alongside several U.S. Attorneys’ offices.
Among those rescued was a 10-year-old from Utah, who was reportedly taken to Cuba by a transgender parent. According to the FBI, the child had initially been told they were going on a camping trip with the parent, their partner, and another child. Instead, the group traveled through Canada and Mexico before reaching Cuba.
The child’s biological father, Rose Inessa-Ethington, allegedly transported the child to Cuba with his partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, without the consent or knowledge of the child’s mother. The family raised significant concerns about the child’s welfare, noting the child, born male, identified as female—an identity they believe was influenced by Rose, as stated in an official press release from the FBI.
During a press briefing at the Justice Department in Washington, D.C., on April 28, 2026, FBI Director Kash Patel, alongside Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, addressed the public on the operation’s outcomes. (Nathan Howard/Reuters)
The FBI reunited the child with his mother after fears that his transgender parent shuttled him to Cuba for gender reassignment surgery.
The transgender parent and the transgender partner who assisted the parent were arrested and charged with International Parental Kidnapping.
“Operation Iron Pursuit is just the latest in this FBI’s work with our interagency partners to crush child abuse networks all over this country,” FBI Director Kash Patel said in a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Last year through Operations like Relentless Justice, Enduring Justice, and Restore Justice, we set records identifying over 6,300 child victims, taking 300+ human traffickers off the streets, and more. President Trump’s law enforcement team is eliminating these criminal actors at a historic pace and we’re not slowing down,” Patel concluded.
The FBI said those arrested during Operation Iron Pursuit are alleged to have committed various crimes, including sexual exploitation, sex trafficking, abuse, kidnapping, and possessing, distributing, or receiving child sexual abuse materials (CSAM).
James Strahler II, 37, pleaded guilty in early April to numerous charges related to his creation of AI-generated explicit material of both adults and children. Strahler pleaded guilty to cyberstalking after prosecutors alleged he used over 100 web-based AI models, telephone calls, voicemails, text messages and web postings to harass victims.
Strahler created over 700 images of both real victims and animations and uploaded them to a website dedicated to child sex abuse material, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office of the Southern District of Ohio.
He is the first person in the U.S. to be convicted under the Take It Down Act, a landmark bill which criminalizes the non-consensual sharing of intimate images and deepfake AI content that was championed by First Lady Melania Trump.
First lady Melania Trump speaks as President Donald Trump listens during the signing of the “Take It Down Act” in the White House Rose Garden in Washington on May 19, 2025. (Evan Vucci/AP)
Another alleged abuser caught in the roundup was New York’s Alber Rodriguez, a 48-year-old who the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York accused of sexually abusing a 12-year-old boy and taking photos and videos of the abuse.
“As alleged, Alber Rodriguez sexually abused a 12-year-old child and recorded that abuse—conduct that is as cruel as it is criminal,” U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a press release.
“This Office has zero tolerance for those who prey on children. Protecting New Yorkers, especially our youngest and most vulnerable, is our priority. If you exploit a child in this District, we will find you, we will charge you, and we will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. We will not stop until those who endanger our children are taken off our streets and held fully accountable.”
Anthony Greene, 37, of Pennsylvania, was also arrested in April as part of the sweep and charged with a litany of crimes. Prosecutors charged Greene by indictment with two counts each of manufacture of child pornography; use of an interstate commerce facility to entice a minor, and attempt to entice a minor, to engage in sexual conduct; and receipt of child pornography, and one count each of possession of child pornography and possession of a firearm by a felon, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania wrote in a statement.
FBI Director Kash Patel said the bureau will produce a report “in short order” after reviewing multiple state-level investigations at the White House’s request to determine whether any are connected. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)
“This operation puts every child predator on notice: we are coming for you,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “The sexual exploitation of minors is an abomination with no place in our society. We will hunt down these offenders, hold them fully accountable under the law, and deliver justice for victims.”
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche criticizes reporters during a press conference on April 21, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call)
The FBI said Iron Pursuit follows three other successful operations last year.
According to the bureau, 205 children were rescued and 293 offenders are arrested during Operation Relentless Justice, which concluded in December 2025. Operation Enduring Justice, which ended in August 2025, resulted in the rescue of 133 children and the arrests of 234 offenders. The FBI said 115 children were rescued and 205 child sex abuse offenders were arrested as a result of Operation Restore Justice, which concluded in May 2025.
“Every single day this FBI is working 24/7 to break networks of child abusers all across this country,” Patel added. “Let this be a message to criminal actors who seek to target America’s children: you will be pursued, and you will be brought to justice.”
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