Robert E. Hughes, Special Agent in Charge (SAC) of the Milwaukee Division of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in partnership with the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Eastern District of Wisconsin, and the Winnebago County Sheriff's Office, have conducted a month long FBI-led operation to identify and arrest distributors and manufactures of child sexual abuse materials and to recover child victims of sexual abuse. This operation has resulted in dozens of arrests across the country, as well as in other countries including Canada, United Kingdom, Romania, and France. More importantly, the operation has so far located and recovered 18 children from being sexually exploited.

The initiative occurring primarily in the month of June, dubbed Operation Kick Boxer, relied on more than 63 law enforcement agencies working on FBI Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Forces in each of the Bureau’s 56 field offices and via the FBI's Legal Attaché Offices throughout the world. The sweep included undercover operations and led to the opening of over five dozen federal and international criminal investigations. Agents and analysts at FBI Milwaukee worked closely with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to coordinate and de-conflict these law enforcement operations.

In all, approximately 65 suspected distributors, manufacturers and hands-on offenders have been identified by law enforcement, arrested, and/or are in the process of being formally charged.

One example of local impact as a result of Kick Boxer was the June 23rd indictment of Martin E. McKeever (age: 51) of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, who was charged with two counts of possessing and distributing child pornography in violation of Title 18, United States Code, Sections 2252A(a)(2)(A) and 2252A(a)(5)(B).

“The FBI is fiercely focused on recovering child victims and arresting the individuals who exploit them,” FBI Milwaukee SAC Hughes said in a statement. “Through operations like this, the FBI helps child victims escape the abusive sexual exploitation occurring in their homes by people they trust.”

“Our nation is seeing a disturbing increase in reports of potential child exploitation,” said United States Attorney Matthew D. Krueger. “Operation Kick Boxer shows the Justice Department’s commitment to working with law enforcement partners at all levels to confront child exploitation aggressively.”

A major element in all the FBI’s child exploitation cases is the placement of victim specialists on operational teams. Their mission is to provide victims with resources to help them in their situations. But they also frequently serve as intermediaries between victim-witnesses and investigators.

In his remarks, SAC Hughes said the FBI’s focus on the issue is not confined to a single week or month each year. The effort to find and stop pedophiles and recover kids is ongoing and continuous. “Our agents, intelligence analysts, professional staff, and victim specialists work tirelessly before, during, and after these operations to make sure that victims get the help, they need to reclaim their lives,” Hughes said.

Winnebago County Sheriff John Matz commented, “We are pleased to have our federal partners working with us on this priority operation. We recognize children are the most vulnerable population we serve and protecting them will always be of greatest importance to law enforcement.”