Local News

To Catch a Predator” Operation Nets 5 Arrests in Madera County

MADERA COUNTY - The Madera County Sheriff’s Office recently collaborated with the California Department of Justice, Bureau of Investigation, Fresno Regional Office, Human Trafficking/Sexual Predator Apprehension Team, and officers from the California Highway Patrol to conduct a "To Catch a Predator" operation in Madera County, targeting individuals seeking to exploit minors sexually. Over the course of the three-day operation, subjects arrived at locations throughout Madera County with the intentions of meeting with a minor to perform sexual acts with.

Agents and officers used undercover identities to pose as minors online who adults solicited to commit sexual acts. During the operation, agents were contacted by nearly 100 different online predators. As the agents communicated with the suspects, they were directed to an area where they were eventually apprehended and arrested. Five subjects were arrested for charges of arranging to meet with a minor for sexual purposes and meeting with a minor for sexual purposes.

The individuals arrested include:

Santiago Villanueva, 47, of Merced

John Grigoryan, 27, of Glendale

Kobe Nguyen, 37, of Merced

Alvaro Quiroz, 29, of Los Banos
Exantus Wilky, 34, of Fresno

All subjects were booked into the Madera County Jail on the abovementioned charges. These investigations will be forwarded to the Madera County District Attorney's Office for prosecution.

Madera County Sheriff Tyson Pogue remarks, “We are grateful for our ongoing partnership with the California DOJ Human Trafficking Team in Fresno and the California Highway Patrol and our shared commitment to protecting one of our most vulnerable populations. May this operation and subsequent arrests remind everyone that we will not tolerate predators in Madera County.”

If you or someone you know is being forced to engage in any activity and cannot leave, you can call the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888 to access help and services. If you or someone else is in immediate danger, call 9-1-1.