GREENVILLE COUNTY, S.C. (WSPA) – An undercover operation in Greenville County has landed 13 men behind bars for child sex crimes.

The Greenville County Sheriff’s Office hosted Operation November Rain from November 1 through November 4 of 2022.

The operation involved undercover investigators chatting online, posting as children under the age of 16.

The undercover investigators would chat with willing adults who would either set up a time to meet with the minor for sex or share sexual material online.

“It was a very large-scale operation,” Greenville County Sheriff Hobart Lewis said. “They conducted several of them throughout the state and this team moves around. To be effective I think it is that information sharing and relationship building that takes place. there is nothing more important than our children.”

“This is a huge endeavor,” Commander for the South Carolina Attorney General Office, Kevin Atkins said. “It takes a lot of time, man hours, resources just to even plan and put it together and then to implement that plan, it takes a village.”

Deputies said 10 men traveled to Greenville County, one man came as far as Athens, Tennessee to where they thought they were meeting with the child.

However, they were met by a team of deputies who took them into custody.

Along with the 10 “travelers”, three suspects were arrested for sharing inapproiate sexual material online.

The following men were arrested and charged:

• Chad Michael Whitman, 30, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Joshua Charles Straub, 30, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• James Albert Hook, 41, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Brian Cortes, 32, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, first-degree sexual exploitation of a minor, disseminating obscene material to a person under 18 years of age and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Benjamin Solano Zamora, 39, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Dallon Christopher Barnwell, 20, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Justin Ty Serafini, 25, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Cristhian Josue Bonilla-Jimenez, 27, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Peter Sreckovich, 51, was charged with second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, disseminating obscene material to a person under 18 years of age and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Steve Michael Worrell, 68, was charged with two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor, two counts of second-degree sexual exploitation of a minor and two counts of criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Kevin Michael Polich, 36, was charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a minor and criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Heath Justin Ramey, 40, was charged with criminal solicitation of a minor.
• Brandon Edward Howard, 36, was charged with criminal solicitation of a minor.

Sheriff Hobart Lewis said these operations are essential to the community.

“Us at the Attorney General’s Office are dealing with children 6,7,8,9 years old sharing sexual content and chatting with adults,” Atkins said. “A lot of people don’t want to believe that’s a problem.”

“People see the defendants and wonder, ‘how can I ever identify who these people might be to protect my child?’ The answer is you can’t; that’s what we are here for,” Sheriff Lewis said. “That’s why our team of investigators and investigators from neighboring agencies conduct operations like these, so the people can rest assured knowing that we are hard at work keeping our communities safe.”

“Undoubtedly they have prevented the future of victimization and exploitation of children,” Assistant special agent in charge for the U.S. Homeland Security Investigations for South Carolina Scott Crabb said. “I commend them and their efforts and I am very impressed with their dedication and what they put forward on that.”

Multiple agencies participated in this operation.

Watch below: Full Greenville County Sheriff’s Office news conference