Fugitive with ties to Sacramento area added to ICE’s smartphone app to locate at-large child sex predators

COLUMBUS, Ohio — An Ohio man with suspected ties to northern California, who absconded during a federal child pornography probe, is the latest fugitive to be profiled on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) smartphone app seeking public tips on at-large and unknown child predator suspects.

Jeremiah Malfroid, 33, whom investigators believe lived recently in the Sacramento-area community of Olivehurst, California, is charged in a criminal complaint filed Oct. 20 with production, receipt, distribution and possession of child pornography. During a search of Malfroid’s former Columbus-area residence, officers with the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force (ICAC) found nearly 700 sexually explicit videos of minors on his laptop computer and other digital media. According to the criminal complaint, five of the images show Malfroid sexually abusing a minor.

A mug shot of Malfroid, who is 5 feet 11 inches tall and weighs 250 pounds, is now posted on ICE’s Operation Predator App along with his biographical information. Tips from the public can be reported anonymously through the app, by phone or online, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

“This app increases our eyes and ears on the ground,” said Tatum King, acting special agent in charge for HSI San Francisco. “We’re hoping featuring this fugitive on the Predator App will produce some valuable tips and ultimately lead to his capture.”

ICE’s Operation Predator App allows users to receive alerts about wanted predators, to share the information with friends via email and social media tools, and to provide information to HSI by calling or submitting an online tip. Additionally, the app allows users to view news about the arrest and prosecution of child predators and obtain information about ICE and its global partners in the fight against child exploitation.

Earlier this year, a fugitive child sex predator from the Bakersfield area whose case was featured on the app was captured after the resulting publicity led to an anonymous tip that he was living in Mexicali, Mexico.  David Michael Wilson, 31, formerly of Delano, was arrested April 2 in Mexicali by Mexican law enforcement and subsequently turned over to HSI by Mexican immigration authorities.  Wilson, who pleaded guilty in August to one count of receiving or distributing images of child pornography, remains in federal custody pending sentencing Dec. 1.

The iOS version Predator App launched in September 2013. Earlier this month, ICE launched the Android version and Spanish versions for both operating systems. More than 124,000 users have downloaded the app across all platforms.

HSI requests that anyone with information about Malfroid, or any of the other fugitives profiled on the app, contact the agency though the app; or by calling the HSI Tip Line, which is staffed 24-hours a day at 1-866-347-2423 from the U.S. & Canada, or 1-802-872-6199 from anywhere in the world, or by submitting an online tip form at www.ice.gov/tips/. Individuals should not attempt to apprehend the suspect personally. 

The smartphone app is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers.

 

# ICE #