What did Tim Tatko do? Incident explored as Mentor teacher arrested in undercover sting operation

Tim Tatko, an elementary school teacher, was one of 14 people who were taken into custody in an undercover operation launched to locate people involved in the solicitation of minors on the Internet. The sting operation, known as "Operation Spider Web" began on October 26, 2023, and continued till October 29, 2023. According to ABC News5, Tatko was "immediately" put on administrative leave as they await the result of the investigation.

Trigger warning: The article contains references to the solicitation of minors. Readers' discretion is advised.

The FBI issued data regarding child predators and said that over 500,000 are active on the internet daily. The predators usually target teenagers aged 14 or 15, and even younger kids.

Tim Tatkohas been arrested as a part of the sting operation, (Image via @draintheswamps7/X)

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Tim Tatko was placed on administrative leave and asked not to have any contact with anyone from the school

A four-day sting operation was conducted by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force which began on October 26 and ended on October 29, 2023. Following the operation, 14 people between the ages of 22 to 71 were apprehended. According to WKYC3, they include:

• Randy Wouters, 33 from Cleveland, Ohio
• Warren Grugle, 71 from Northfield, Ohio
• Stephen Simpson, 44 from Warren, Ohio
• Lucas Black, 24, from Parma, Ohio
• Timothy Opincar, 54, from Fairview Park, Ohio
• Alan Radomski, 39, from Richfield, Ohio
• Gonzalo Villafan, 24, from Cleveland, Ohio
• Robert Biddle, 22, from Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
• Miller Singh, 57, from Cleveland, Ohio
• Shiloh Teiji-Saalim-Moore, 28, from Warrensville Heights, Ohio
• Neil Deimer, 53, from Ottawa, Ohio
• Ted Williams, 56, from Cleveland, Ohio
• Jed Martus, 28, from Akron Ohio
• Tim Tatko, 55, from Mayfield Heights, Ohio.

Tatko is reportedly a teacher at Orchard Hollow Elementary in Mentor and he was arrested on November 3, 2023. Following Tatko's arrest, Mentor School District issued a statement addressing the incident.

"Unfortunately, we have been made aware today that one of our teachers, Tim Tatko (Orchard Hollow), was arrested as part of a sting operation by the Ohio Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force, where undercover officers were posing as minors," the statement read.

The statement revealed that the school district authorities are trying to gather additional information regarding the allegations against Tatko.

The sting operation was meant to find online child predators, (Image by NiQole/X)

The statement released by the school district, concerning the charges against Tim Tatko, revealed that he was being placed on administrative leave. The school authorities are cooperating with the police who are investigating the case. They said that their first priority was to keep their students safe and that they would do everything they could to protect them.

"We will provide updated information when it becomes available," the statement noted.

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All the arrestees face multiple s*x crime charges

The undercover sting operation had agents pretending to be young girls on social media platforms to get the attention of the child predators before apprehending them.

Brian Knepp, the founder of the 814Pred Hunters, spoke about the procedure to WPXI and said that they have decoy accounts on social media platforms like Facebook, etc. He said that the accounts were "pretty much that" and were there for adults to contact them.

"On an average, one of my decoys has well over 150 to 200 guys waiting in line to talk. We’ll pick a public place, a Sheetz, a Walmart, somewhere like that to get them away from where they are," Knepp added.

The school authorities are looking into the matter and are cooperating with cops as well, (Image via NiQole/X)

Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley confirmed that all the men, along with Tim Tatko are facing multiple charges. These include compelling pr*stitution, attempted unlawful s*xual conduct with a minor, disseminating matters harmful to juveniles, importuning, and possessing criminal tools.