State Police arrest over 50 in child pornography, exploitation operation

Massachusetts State Police arrested 56 people in a three-day sting operation targeting child pornography and exploitation across the state, officials announced Monday.

“If you think you may know the type of person who commits these types of crimes, I can assure you there is no profile when it comes to child exploitation,” said Lt. Col. Dan Tucker, commander of the State Police Division of Investigative Services.

“Operation Firewall brought us to nearly 40 communities across every part of the Commonwealth. We arrested successful business people, homeowners, spouses and parents of children. Fifty-five of the suspects are men, and one is a woman. The suspects arrested range in age of 18 to 75. These suspects could be your neighbors.”

Operation Firewall, conducted by the State Police and law enforcement partners over three days last week, was designed to address the “growing problem of possession, production, and sharing of child sexual abuse material, as well as child enticement and other illegal activity.”

During the operation, 56 people were arrested, 229 devices were seized from suspects and 34 residential search warrants were executed, Tucker said.

Of the arrests, 25 were on charges of possession of child pornography and 19 were on charges of enticement of a child “after communicating with an undercover law enforcement officer they thought was an underage child and agreeing to meet for sex,” Tucker said.

Seven more were arrested on outstanding warrants for failure to register as a sex offender and five on warrants for rape and assault and battery of a child.

State Police leadership noted the operation was designed to respond to and bring awareness to the rapid rise of internet crimes against children.

In just the past week, Tucker said, the Massachusetts Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force received over 1,000 tips, “which is indicative of the trend we’ve been seeing for years now.”

In 2020, the State Police received 5,613 cyber tips, he said. In 2025, the agency is on track to received over 20,000, an about 270% increase over the last five years.

“I want our message to be clear,” Tucker said. “If you are seeking to possess child sexual abuse material or to sexually assault a child, the Massachusetts State Police and our partners will find you. Operation Firewall is just the beginning. From this operation, several cases remain ongoing, and we anticipate there will be more arrests in the coming days.”

Law enforcement representatives called the efforts in the operation “nothing short of tremendous,” noting the “enormous personal cost” to investigators reviewing this material and working the cases.

“It’s my hope that we can continue to strengthen our statewide partnership and to continue to dedicate resources to this cause,” said Berkshire County DA Timothy Shugrue, noting their ongoing “To Catch a Predator” operation over the last three years. “Through this work, we can create communities where children grow up free from exploitation.”

Any family who is experiencing this type of issue, said Worcester County DA Joseph Early, should “call the state please, call your local DA’s office, ask for the help, because we know too often this goes under the radar until there’s an effort like this to bring it forth.”

Investigators encouraged families to help prevent this type of crime by education themselves and their children on the risks.

“We all need to work together to mitigate this growing problem of child pornography and child enticement,” said Col. Geoffrey Noble, State Police superintendent. “Every parent in Massachusetts needs to know what’s on their children’s devices. They need to monitor who they’re speaking to online, and they need to set clear expectations that it’s never okay to create or share explicit material of yourself or another person.”