A man wanted on child sexual abuse charges, two corporate vice presidents and a child psychologist are among 42 people arrested in a child sexual exploitation case in the Inland Empire, authorities announced Monday.
The effort, called Operation Volcano, has identified more than 500 suspected child sex offenders as part of an effort to crack down on regional child exploitation networks, according to the Riverside County district attorney’s office.
For suspects, authorities are focusing on those considered the most dangerous. They included people who had previously committed sex crimes, those under criminal justice supervision, people who worked with children, and people in positions of trust in the community.
Feliciano Chavarria, 62, was arrested in Lake Elisinore. He was wanted on a $2-million warrant for child sexual abuse in LA County, according to a spokeswoman for the Riverside County district attorney’s office.
The operation also found three registered sex offenders: Mark Tyler, 66, of Perris; Dustin Jenks, 56, of Palm Springs; and Anthony Ramirez, 39, of Nuevo.
Additional arrests included a retired law enforcement officer, a California prison information technology worker, a local government planning director, a Southern California hospital chief technology officer, a community activist, a United States Postal Service employee and a naturopathic doctor, prosecutors said.
The project began in March 2025 as part of a partnership between the Riverside County Child Exploitation Task Force and the non-profit organization Our Rescue, which focuses on combating child exploitation. Our Rescue has provided resources to help pay for software to search the suspects’ computers and cell phones, according to Liam Doyle, chief investigator for the district attorney’s office.
“The arrest is the easy part; digital forensics is time-consuming, expensive, and without evidence, we don’t have a case,” Doyle said in a statement.
The 42 people arrested came from 19 towns in Riverside County, with the most populous in Menifee, where six people were arrested; Riverside, where five people were arrested; and Moreno Valley, which also arrested five. Although all the people arrested are accused of distributing literature that sexually abuses children, there is no indication that anyone was involved, Doyle said.
Those arrested range from 21 to 81 years old, most of the suspects are middle-aged men.
Authorities have identified the suspects by identifying IP addresses that distribute child sexual exploitation materials on peer-to-peer networks. A peer-to-peer network is a system where computers connect directly to share data without a central server, enabling users to exchange illegal material in a decentralized manner that is difficult to monitor.
The Inland Empire has been identified as a hot spot for child sexual abuse and human trafficking, with a dedicated task force in San Bernardino and Riverside counties targeting child sexual exploitation.
Riverside County sheriff’s officials said about 5,000 to 6,000 children are runaways or missing in the county each year. Although most return home soon after leaving, a proportion become victims of sex trafficking.
This year, an operation led by the Sheriff’s Office and the US Marshals Service rescued dozens of missing children who had been sexually abused or trafficked.
Operation Volcano, the effort announced Monday, was carried out with the support of Homeland Security Investigations, the California Highway Patrol and Internet Crimes Against Children forces in Los Angeles and San Diego.
