It has been reported that a couple in North Carolina has been arrested for making horrific child abuse material as part of a sting operation.
Carmen Delia Foley, 31, and Darryl Edwin Foley, 34, are facing multiple charges related to child sex crimes. These heinous crimes involve underage victims as young as 12 months to 12 years old.
Darryl was arrested in January and is charged with 10 counts of second-degree exploitation of a minor. The arrest warrant said victims included children ranging from the ages of one to 12 years old. Darryl has already been indicted on the crimes.
Carmen was arrested Thursday and is charged with three counts of first-degree exploitation of a minor and two counts of statutory sex offense with a child by an adult.
Search warrants said in September 2023, investigators traced three videos containing child pornography back to an IP address belonging to Darryl. Investigators said this gave them probable cause to search the Foley’s home.
Investigators found files from the Foley’s devices that depicted Darryl and Carmen engaged in sexual acts with a girl under the age of five, according to search warrants.
Carmen is being held on a $3-million bond, and Darryl is being held on a $450,000 bond.
During Operation Winter Guardian, the State Bureau of Investigation (SBI) and Garner Police Department conducted a joint investigation to uncover child pornography, per the news reports from WYFF Channel 4 news.
Officials described the operation as taking place during the week of Jan. 8-12, when undercover law enforcement investigators went online and participated in chats with people trying to meet juveniles for sexual activity.
Some of those people then traveled to Gaston County to meet the person they believed to be a child to engage in those sex acts.
The second phase of the operation involved investigators executing search warrants at several locations throughout the state that were identified as distribution points where child sexual exploitation images were shared.
“In a time when we are seeing a record number of CyberTip reports from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, it is imperative that we continue to conduct proactive investigations like these,” NCICAC Commander and SBI Special Agent in Charge Kevin Roughton said. “The cases in this operation had not been reported to anyone. Without the joint effort of our local and federal partner agencies, these offenders could still be engaging in the same criminal acts today, but even more importantly, the children who were safeguarded would likely continue to be victimized again and again without anyone knowing and no one coming to help them.”
As a result of these investigations, at least five children have been identified and protected from further abuse.
