text: Story highlights Immigration agency's "Operation Sunflower" identified 123 child victims of pornography, abuse 
   
   Some victims were as young as 3; others were abused as children and are now adults 
   
   Law enforcement officials in six other countries also made arrests in the operation 
   
   An international operation led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement aimed at child pornography and sexual abuse has resulted in the arrest of 245 suspects, officials announced Thursday. All but 23 of the suspects were apprehended in the United States. 
   
   The agency said that during the course of Operation Sunflower, law enforcement officers identified 123 victims of child exploitation and removed 44 of those children from their alleged abusers with whom they were living. The other cases involved victims who were exploited by people outside their homes or children who were harmed years ago and are now adults. 
   
   Several of the children were shockingly young. Five were under age 3. Nine were between the ages of 4 and 6. Of the 123 victims, 110 lived in the United States in 19 different states. ICE officials did not identify the six other countries where victims were identified or where some of the arrests were made, citing the need to work discreetly with international law enforcement partners. 
   
   According to ICE, some of those arrested during Operation Sunflower were registered sex offenders. 
   
   Operation Sunflower was conducted in November and December, but efforts are continuing on other cases. During a news conference, ICE Director John Morton said the agency was calling on the public to provide tips and mentioned several open investigations. One of those cases involves the sexual molestation of an unidentified girl thought to be around 13. 
   
   Investigators believe the abuse took place about 11 years ago, but the pornographic images were widely circulated. ICE has posted pictures of an unidentified woman and man suspected of abusing the girl on its website. The woman has some distinctive tattoos that investigators hope will lead to tips about her identity. 
   
   Based on a forensic analysis of the pornographic images in that case, investigators think the abuse occurred in the Los Angeles or San Fernando Valley area of California. Although the girl may now be an adult, ICE officials want to identify and prosecute the suspects and prevent them from harming new victims. 
   
   "Forensic analysis technology has become critical in the fight against child exploitation," Morton said. "We are coming across these images on the Internet. They are being produced in one country but shared literally around the world, often in real time." 
   
   Morton said ICE works with other law enforcement agencies and with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to look for clues in the pictures of abuse to identify where the acts occurred and track down the victims and perpetrators. 
   
   The name Operation Sunflower was chosen to commemorate a case from 2011 in which Danish law enforcement officials shared images and chat board information about a 16-year-old boy who allegedly planned to rape an 11-year-old girl. One image taken from a moving car showed a road sign with a sunflower on it. ICE's Homeland Security Investigations determined that the road sign was unique to Kansas. Agents were then able to find the exact stretch of road where the picture was taken and to locate the girl. ||||| Federal agents identified 123 sexually exploited children -- some as young as 2 -- and arrested 245 suspected child porn producers in a five-week operation that spanned 46 states and six countries and includes the Bay Area, a federal official announced Thursday. 
   
   Of the more than 100 abused children identified in Operation Sunflower, 44 were directly rescued from their abusers and 79 were identified as being exploited by others outside their homes or are now adults who were victimized as children. The arrests -- 37 in California, the most of any state -- were mostly executed during the first week of December, but agents are still working on rescuing and identifying victims. 
   
   In the Bay Area, agents procured five indictments for individuals from their early 20s to early 50s. The four arrested were from San Jose, San Leandro, San Francisco and Sonoma County, and one remains on the lam. 
   
   Fourteen Fresno-area residents were also arrested and three children from that region rescued, including a 7-year-old girl with disabilities. 
   
   "Whenever our investigations reveal the production and distribution of new child pornography online, we will do everything we can to rescue the victim and prosecute the abuser even if takes us years or (going) around the world to do it," said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Director John Morton at a Washington D.C. news conference Thursday. 
   
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   One of the suspects is Michael Lindsay, 53, of San Jose, arrested Nov. 8 at San Francisco International Airport on suspicion of engaging in child sex tourism. He was boarding a flight to Manila, Philippines. Two months earlier, Lindsay returned from a trip to the Philippines and that country issued a criminal complaint alleging he had sexual contact with a 13-year-old girl. 
   
   Agents continue to search for additional victims, as evidence suggests Lindsay had sexual contact with additional children, according to ICE. 
   
   Of the 123 victims (70 female, 53 male) identified in the operation, five were under the age of 3; nine were 4 to 6; 21 were 7 to 9; 11 were ages 10 to 12; 38 were 13 to 15; and 15 were ages 16 to 17. Twenty-four victims were found to be adults now. 
   
   ICE's Homeland Security Investigations agents dubbed the worldwide investigation "Operation Sunflower" to commemorate the anniversary of a successful operation that rescued an 11-year-old Kansas girl from rape. It was the agency's first case in their new Victim Identification Program. 
   
   In the 2011 case, Danish police alerted American authorities to a 16-year-old boy soliciting advice on a pedophile chat room and posting images of the 11-year-old girl, saying he planned to rape her. Agents had no idea where the suspect and victim were. 
   
   Working with high-tech video equipment, law enforcement was able to extrapolate a sunflower-shaped road sign in a video from a moving car that the suspect posted. The yellow freeway sign was determined to be unique to Kansas. 
   
   For days, pairs of ICE agents drove the Kansas freeways before finding the sign on a rural freeway. From there, with the help of local police, they identified a swimming pool featured in another video and then tracked down the victim before any crime was committed. Last fiscal year, 292 victims were identified or rescued from ICE investigations and 1,655 child predators were arrested. 
   
   "We are defending the defenseless," Morton said. 
   
   Morton asked for the public's help in identifying three men and a woman in three unsolved Operation Sunflower cases. In the first case, investigators believe the photographs were taken about 11 years ago with an adult man and woman sexually molesting a girl who looks to be about 13 years old. Agents believe the images may have been taken in Los Angeles, or possibly the San Fernando Valley area. 
   
   The other two cases involve white male adult suspects abusing pre-pubescent toddlers. Their whereabouts are unknown. 
   
   Anyone with information or tips that can assist in these investigations can call 1-866-DHS-2-ICE or visit www.ICE.gov/tips. Tips may be reported anonymously. 
   
   Contact Matthias Gafni at 925-952-5026. Follow him at Twitter.com/mgafni.
target: – A massive child-porn bust has led to 245 arrests and the identification of 123 exploited children, some as young as two, reports the Contra Costa Times. The crackdown, dubbed Operation Sunflower, began Nov. 1 and ran for five weeks, and extended to 46 states and six countries, officials revealed yesterday. Of the 123 children, 44 were living with their alleged abusers. Five of the children were three or younger, and 41 were between the ages of four and 12. California led the way with 37 arrests, and all but 23 of those arrested were in the United States, reports CNN. "Whenever our investigations reveal the production and distribution of new child pornography online, we will do everything we can to rescue the victim and prosecute the abuser, even if takes us years or (going) around the world to do it," said ICE's director. Investigators say the are continuing to make arrests and attempting to identify further victims. The operation's name is a nod to the impressive 2011 rescue of an 11-year-old in Kansas; click for the fascinating story of how ICE agents tracked her down.