SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco Police Department indicated in a press release on Tuesday, September 4 that several arrests were made in several Internet Crimes Against Children Investigations. In August, the SFPD Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Unit were informed of an individual attempting to meet and have sex with a 14 year-old girl through online social media. During the investigation, the suspect attempted to send graphic sexual images to the child.
On August 20, the suspect, identified as Cristobal Avendano, 54, of San Francisco was arrested by police after attempting to meet and have sexual contact with the child. Avendano’s case was charged by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office with arranging a meeting with a minor for sexual contact, communicating with a minor to have sexual contact and going to an arranged meeting with a minor for sexual contact.
In August 2018, the SFPD ICAC Unit and the Department of Homeland Security Investigations began an investigation of a separate individual who was uploading child pornography to a peer-to-peer file sharing network. During the investigation, the ICAC unit was able to identify the suspect as, Maurice Alvarez, 50, an electrician from San Francisco.
On August 21, SFPD and HSI investigators executed a search warrant at Alvarez’s home located on the 2700 block of Bush Street. Investigators located a device belonging to Alvarez which contained child pornography videos and images depicting minors engaged in sexual acts. Alvarez was taken into custody and booked at San Francisco County Jail for possession of child pornography and possession of over 600 files of child pornography.
In a separate case, the ICAC unit commenced an investigation of an individual who was obtaining child pornography through an encrypted file sharing network. The investigation led authorities to a house boat on Liberty Dock in Sausalito, California.
On August 23, SFPD investigators, assisted by deputies and detectives from the Marin County Sheriff’s Department, executed a search warrant at the home. Investigators located dozens of devices containing thousands of child pornography videos and images. The suspect was identified as Stanley Barbarich, 73, of Sausalito. He was arrested and booked at Marin County Jail for child pornography and possession of over 600 files of child pornography.
The SFPD noted the following cases are still under investigation. Anyone who is believed to have suspicious contact with any of these suspects is asked to contact the SFPD Tip Line at (415) 575-4444 or Text a Tip to TIP411 and begin the text message with SFPD.