TULSA, Okla. (KOKH) — A sweeping child exploitation crackdown in northern Oklahoma has led to charges against dozens of people and the identification of more than 20 children who were separated from alleged offenders, federal prosecutors said.
U.S. Attorney Chris Nassar announced Monday that 38 people have been indicted following the launch of Operation Clean Sweep III in March. Officials say several others have been identified and are still under investigation. The operation is aimed at holding child predators accountable throughout the Northern District of Oklahoma and is partnered with the Tornado Alley Child Exploitation and Trafficking Task Force.
More than 25 federal, state and tribal law enforcement partners took part in efforts to prevent, identify, investigate and prosecute child exploitation.
From March 2026 through August 2026, the U.S. Attorney’s Office received referrals from eight of the 11 counties within the Northern District of Oklahoma and opened 66 cases for investigation. To date, 38 defendants have either been charged by complaint or indicted, with the remaining cases still under investigation.
Of the 38 defendants charged, 26 were charged with possessing child sexual abuse material, eight were charged with producing child sexual abuse material, and nine were charged with coercion and enticement for using phones and applications to target minor children.
Authorities said 21 minor children have been identified and separated from the defendants. Officials noted that number does not represent the children depicted in the child sexual abuse material. Law enforcement agencies will partner with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to identify those children.
At the same time, law enforcement checked 887 individuals in 10 of the 11 counties within the district and found that 34 individuals were not compliant with standards under the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act.
“Clean Sweep III is ending as an operation; however, the cases are not,” Nassar said. “Investigations and prosecutions will continue on every open matter that has not yet been charged. The team that built this operation is not standing down. The experience, the relationships, and the enforcement effort will continue. We will keep bringing child predators to justice in the Northern District of Oklahoma.”
