By Khalida Sarwari
Two people were arrested on child pornography charges in Los Gatos in the past two weeks, police said today.
Police arrested 20-year-old Sebastien Fauque at his Monte Sereno home on Aug. 11. On Aug. 18, officers arrested a 16-year-old teenage boy at his home. He was given a citation and later released to his mother.
Search warrants were served in both cases, following an investigation led by Los Gatos police in collaboration with the San Jose Police Department’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
In the six-week investigation, titled “Operation Peer Block,” San Jose police arrested 11 people for possession of child pornography in San Jose and Santa Clara.
In a statement today, Los Gatos police Chief Scott Seaman said the investigation focused on people who engaged in a consistent and ongoing pattern of collecting or sharing child pornography.
“Possession and sharing of child pornography promotes the exploitation of young children locally, nationally and internationally and can also be linked to the abuse of young children,” Seaman said.
He said in at least two recent local cases, an arrest resulted in the identification of victims who had not reported their abuse to anyone.
Offenders can expect to face arrest and strong penalties, including lifetime registration as a sex offender, Seaman said.