SIERRA VISTA, Arizona — Special Agent Douglas of the Homeland Security Bureau of Investigation (HSI) and detectives from the Sierra Vista Police Department, part of the Arizona Task Force on Internet Child Crime, have identified three suspects as a result of separate Sierra Vista investigations. Arrested.
“HSI’s partnership with the Sierra Vista Police Department has proven once again to be a powerful partnership to protect the most vulnerable people in our community,” said HSI Arizona Special Agent Scott Brown. rice field. “HSI is committed to keeping these alleged perpetrators off the streets of our community and unable to commit unspeakable acts.”
On June 6, HSI Special Agents arrested Tucson resident David Sharon, 59. Sharon was arrested after a month-long investigation into online sexual solicitation of minors. Authorities launched an investigation in early May 2023 after Sharon had contact with what appeared to be a 14-year-old resident of Sierra Vista. Sharon met the boy near Block 2200 on the El Mercado Loop on June 6 and planned to go to a hotel and have sex. Authorities arrested him at the meeting place and recovered evidence of the crime from his vehicle. After processing him at the Sierra Vista Police Station, authorities transferred him to the Federal Correctional Facility in Florence. Sharon remains in custody on federal charges of child sexual exploitation. His case was referred to federal prosecutors.
On June 8, HSI Special Agents and Sierra Vista Police Department detectives arrested Sierra Vista resident Norbert Felix, 51, after he served a search warrant in his home. The investigation began in April when police received information from the Arizona Internet Child Crime Task Force to the National Exploitation Center for Missing Children that a Sierra Vista resident had transferred child sexual abuse material to a cloud storage platform. started from. Several search warrants led investigators to a residence on North Clanton Avenue in Sierra Vista. On June 8, HSI special agents and detectives arrested Felix at his home. He was incarcerated in Cochise County Jail on four counts of sexual exploitation of a minor. He remains in prison on $75,000 bail. His case was accepted for prosecution by the Cochise County Attorney’s Office.
On June 10, HSI Special Agents and Sierra Vista Police Department detectives arrested 23-year-old Jonathan Shiffler, a resident of Richmond Hills, Georgia, near Veterans Memorial Park. The investigation was launched April 4, 2022, following a Sierra Vista resident complaint that a 15-year-old boy was being solicited to forward illegal images of himself to several people through an online gaming application. was started in Over the next year, detectives gathered evidence and issued several subpoenas and search warrants to online social media platforms and banking institutions. Detectives secured evidence detailing the boy’s 24-month online relationship with Shiffler. This relationship involved producing child sexual abuse material and buying it online for financial gain. The investigation culminated when Shiffler traveled from Georgia to Sierra Vista and had sex with a boy at a local hotel. Authorities searched the hotel and found evidence of a planned encounter. Mr. Schiffler was incarcerated in Cochise County Jail on state charges including sexual exploitation of a minor, aggravated seduction of a minor, seduction of a minor, and involvement in drug offenses involving a minor.
“These concerns are the result of tremendous collaboration and teamwork with our federal partners in law enforcement to proactively identify and detain offenders,” said Sierra Vista Police Deputy Chief Chris Heiser.
As with all arrests, all defendants are presumed innocent until proven otherwise in court.
Anyone with information about Internet crimes against children can report suspicious activity using the HSI Hotline (866-DHS-2-ICE). Local residents with information related to this type of criminal activity should contact Sierra Vista Police Detective Thomas P. Lansford at (520) 452-7500.
HSI is the primary investigative arm of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), investigating cross-border crime and threats, particularly those that exploit the global infrastructure used for international trade, travel, and financial movement. I am in charge of HSI’s more than 8,700 employees are made up of her more than 6,000 special agents stationed in 237 US cities and 93 international offices in 56 countries. HSI’s international presence represents DHS’s largest foreign investigative law enforcement presence and is one of the largest international footprints in U.S. law enforcement.
