Two eastern Idaho detectives honored by Attorney General for 100 child predator arrests
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IDAHO FALLS — Two eastern Idaho law enforcement officers were honored Tuesday for their work protecting children from online predators.
Idaho Falls Police Detective Jared Mendenhall and Bonneville County Sheriff’s Office Detective Korey Payne received special recognition from Idaho Attorney General Raúl Labrador for their efforts with the Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force. The two investigators have been involved in 100 arrests connected to child exploitation cases.
“They’ve been working for a long time, protecting the community, making sure that they save children,” Labrador told EastIdahoNews.com. “It’s an incredible figure — 100 arrests. These are real children who are being protected. I call it God’s work.”
Mendenhall and Payne were honored, accompanied by their families, at the Idaho Falls Police Department in front of a room full of other ICAC members and law enforcement officers.
The ICAC unit operates under the Attorney General’s Office but includes a network of deputies, officers and detectives stationed across the state. Their mission is to track down child predators who are attempting to abuse or exploit children online.
Over the past five years, the number of tips to the Idaho ICAC unit has gone from around 1,500 in 2020 to over 4,100 expected this year, according to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office.
Mendenhall and Payne said they’re grateful for the recognition but emphasized that awards aren’t why they do this work.
“We do our job because we do our job,” Payne said. “It’s important to save the community. We’re trying to save kids and find the people that are out there trying to abuse children or look at images of children being abused.”
Mendenhall noted that no single agency can tackle the issue alone.
“There’s no way for us to solve this problem as an IFPD, but we can solve it as an Idaho law enforcement community,” Mendenhall said.
Despite the recognition, the pair said their caseload isn’t slowing down. Even on Tuesday morning, before the ceremony, they were working on cases.
EastIdahoNews.com went undercover with the ICAC unit this past summer, watching detectives in real time as they carried out operations and made arrests. You can watch the investigation here.