Operation Kessel Run: 12 Accused Of Trying To Lure Minors For Sex In Escambia County

March 12, 2024

After a multi-agency investigation, 12 suspects were arrested and charged with seducing a minor to engage in sexual conduct, traveling to meet a minor for sexual activity and use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony, law enforcement announced Tuesday,.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), State Attorney Ginger Bowden Madden, the Escambia and Santa Rosa county sheriff’s offices, Pensacola and Fort Walton Beach police departments, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), Air Force Office of Special Investigations (OSI), Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) and U.S. Marshals Service participated in the operation.

During the multiday operation, suspects communicated with undercover investigators posing as juveniles. Each suspect was told they were communicating with a teenager, but chose to engage in sexually explicit conversations anyway, asking for lewd photos and discussing how they planned to be sexually active with the “child.” Following the conversations, the suspects drove to meet the investigators, thinking they were meeting 13 and 14-year old children to engage in sexual activity.

Those arrested were:

  • Darryl Lamont Hart, 57, Pensacola, arrested arrested Feb. 23
  • Clayton Patrick Costello, 37, Hoover, Alabama, arrested Feb. 24
  • Randy Edgar Powell, 52, Pensacola, arrested Feb. 24
  • Telvan Latrell Williams, 28, Mobile, Alabama, arrested Feb. 24
  • Kriss Lashawn Gilmore, 31, Foley, Alabama, arrested Feb. 24
  • Alex Michael Durlock, 24, Fort Walton Beach, arrested Feb. 25
  • Jordan Christopher Belton, 28, Pensacola, arrested Feb. 25
  • Raphael Rochelle Brooks, 39, Robertsdale, Alabama, arrested Feb. 25
  • William John Nordstrom, 64, Pensacola, arrested Feb. 25
  • Eric Wintin Long, 33, Montgomery, Alabama, arrested Feb. 26
  • Patrick Jay Dehnel, 33, Slidell, Louisiana, arrested Feb. 28
  • Jamaine Antonia Johnson, 32, Pensacola, arrested March 4

All were booked into the Escambia County Jail.

“These suspects asked for lewd photos and communicated in graphic sexual terms. Luckily our FDLE agents and analysts, along with our partners, found them before they found our children. And while this operation is finished, we are not. The work of these investigators continues because we know there are more predators out there just waiting for the opportunity to hurt a child,” FDLE Pensacola Special Agent in Charge Chris Williams said.

“The “Kessel Run” joint operation is an example of law enforcement partnerships, enabling the Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) to leverage combined expertise and effort, to target online sexual predators who attempt to prey on our communities. NCIS thanks the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, federal and state agencies, and local partners for the continued collaboration on impactful joint internet operations to protect the communities where our warfighters and their families reside,” said NCIS Supervisory Special Agent Myles Roy.

“Working together, the FBI and our local law enforcement partners have prevented these predators from victimizing the most innocent and vulnerable members of our community,” said FBI Jacksonville’s Acting Special Agent in Charge Mark Dargis. “Let these arrests be a warning to others – law enforcement will not tolerate the exploitation of children, and we will be relentless in our efforts to identify and locate predators who seek to abuse them.”

“These predators preyed on the innocence of children by knowingly engaging in lewd and lascivious online conduct, only to take it a step further and agreeing to meet in person and turn those conversations into action,” said Homeland Security Investigation (HSI) Tallahassee Assistant Special Agent in Charge Nicholas Ingegno. “Operation Kessel Run was a successful joint investigation, but there is still more work that must be done. HSI, alongside our law enforcement partners, will never rest in identifying, investigating, and prosecuting predators who seek to use children for their perverse behaviors and make them lifelong victims.”

Comments

16 Responses to “Operation Kessel Run: 12 Accused Of Trying To Lure Minors For Sex In Escambia County”

  1. TB on March 17th, 2024 1:51 pm

    What really concerns me is that this might have not been their first time and there are injured children out there somewhere that needs to be located and taken care of.

  2. Bob on March 16th, 2024 1:26 am

    I’m extremely disturbed by the number of comments advocating for killing people in our community.

    It’s kinda crazy that y’all trust the government enough to decide who does or doesn’t have the right to live, but here we are.

  3. Pitlover on March 14th, 2024 5:59 pm

    These men should have called the authorities immediately to report the exploitation . When u see this activity do respond and call police immediately. If they did the would not be in jail right.

  4. jb on March 14th, 2024 10:59 am

    castration—then they live with it EVERY DAY

  5. BGH2 on March 14th, 2024 5:55 am

    GREAT JOB to all of the agencies that took these sick and twisted individuals. I’m like the other commenter above referencing carrying on these conversations without being concerned with whom they were speaking to actually being the target of their sick fantasy. I’m just thankful that it was a sting and what they had planned never happened. We know these types walk amongst us and this probably happens on a daily/weekly basis. I just hope none ever succeed in this situation playing out in their favor. I too hope they change their perverted ways in prison…we know the ones with enough money can/will get the charges lowered through a pre agreement (I pray they aren’t allowed to) and get out to do it again. We are living in some bad bad times where evil is outpacing good so again, I wholeheartedly thank these LEO agencies for never giving up in this fight against OUR CHILDREN! Yes, I believe this crime should have tougher mandatory sentencing of the highest maximum allowed ABOVE what the law states. This is PURE EVIL at work here.
    @Cb…I stand in full agreement with you and I sure like the way you think.

  6. See ya on March 13th, 2024 5:52 pm

    What are these fools thinking? Oops, that’s right the little head is doing it for them. Family’s damaged, careers destroyed and reputations ruined. The ALL get what they deserve. Too bad it can’t be even more.

  7. Kane on March 13th, 2024 12:41 pm

    It’s the Sheriffs office that made the Kessel Run in twelve perps!! XD

  8. Cb on March 13th, 2024 11:35 am

    People like this shouldn’t make the news they should be shot on site.

  9. They Left off a Crime on March 13th, 2024 9:36 am

    How dumb do you have to be to communicate with someone you have never met and believe they are who and what they say they are. They should also be charged with First Degree Stupidity.

  10. Sedition on March 13th, 2024 1:39 am

    Throw them in general population and announce what they are in for.

  11. Steve on March 13th, 2024 1:18 am

    They should make this run every day. This filth is rotting the world. Soft on crime and lack of control is pushing things to the brink

  12. Beth on March 12th, 2024 9:44 pm

    Lock them all up til they die!!!!

  13. amazing on March 12th, 2024 9:19 pm

    Excellent work being done here, looks like they aren’t finished yet!

  14. Beach Boy on March 12th, 2024 7:41 pm

    That is a sickness!!! Maybe their lives will be changed in prison. May God have mercy on their souls. What does it profit to gain the world and lose their soul?

  15. Betty Myers on March 12th, 2024 5:13 pm

    Thank you

  16. JTV on March 12th, 2024 4:09 pm

    Hang em high.

Written by William Reynolds · Filed Under News