Sheriff Pope’s Message of the Week on May 8, 2026

Lyon County NV – May 8, 2026

Message of the Week 05/08/2026

In April, the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the Department of Homeland Security (HSI). The MOU cross-deputized a Special Agent of HSI to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office.

The purpose of the cross-deputization is to bring HSI resources to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office, specifically to assist in child pornography investigations and internet crimes against children. HSI has significant investigative resources for these disgusting cases, which are unavailable to the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office. The cross-deputization will allow the HSI Agent to pursue State and local charges when an investigation in our jurisdiction may not meet the threshold for a Federal prosecution.

Today, that MOU was utilized. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office Investigations Division in conjunction with HSI executed a search warrant in Fernley, Nevada. The search warrant was based on an extended investigation that was conducted by the LCSO and HSI. An adult male was arrested for 11 counts of the felony crime of NRS 200.725 – Preparing, advertising, or distributing child sexual abuse material. One of the specialized tools HSI used during the search was “Bandit” who is an Electronic Sniffing Dog from the Sparks Police Department. “Bandit” is assigned to the Northern Nevada Internet Crimes against Children Taskforce. “Bandit” is capable of locating hidden digital devices like cell phones, hard drives, and micro SD cards.

Child-related internet crimes are widespread, evolving, and increasingly sophisticated. Prevention requires cooperation among law enforcement, technology companies, educators, and families. Digital safety education, rapid reporting systems, and stronger online protections remain critical to reducing victimization and identifying offenders.

The most common internet-based child-related crimes include online grooming, child sexual abuse material (CSAM) distribution, financial sextortion, human trafficking recruitment, and enticement for sexual exploitation. According to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, its CyberTipline received 20.5 million reports in 2024, involving nearly 63 million files related to suspected child sexual exploitation. This reflects the massive scale of online victimization and the growing workload for investigators.

The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is committed to aggressive enforcement of the law, including targeting child predators. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is committed to utilizing every tool, and resource to bring these predators to justice. HSI has outlined their ability to contribute specialized training, experience, and investigative resources to assist the Lyon County Sheriff’s Office in this mission.

The HSI cross-designation strengthens collaboration, and our commitment to partnering with local and federal agencies to improve investigative outcomes. The Lyon County Sheriff’s Office is looking forward to the collaboration with HSI with the common goal of aggressively enforcing the law.

Respectfully,

Sheriff Brad Pope