From a Small Town in Central Florida to the Mountains of Washoe County, Nevada – Bringing Predators to Justice and Vulnerable Children to Safety
This is the tale of two highly trained Labradors who hunt the digital footprints of online predators who traffic and exploit vulnerable children in some of America’s most picturesque, family-friendly communities. State to state, neighborhood by neighborhood, these specialized Electronic Storage Device (ESD) K9 detectives help law enforcement identify child victims who need to be brought to safety and criminals who need to be brought to justice.
On any given day, these ESD K9 heroes help execute search warrants with laser focus and precision, retrieving a wide range of electronic storage devices that may contain key evidence in a case. Evidence that can help identify a child in need.
When these expert ESD K9s are not working in the field, they play another, incredibly important role in the very lives they may have helped save…
Highly skilled ESD K9 detectives one minute; comforting survivors the next Our Rescue-sponsored ESD K9s go through months of extensive training at Jordan Detection K9 in Indianapolis. Two weeks before they graduate, these ESD K9s meet their handlers, police officers from around the world who are eager to bring their new K9 partners home to meet their families, departments, and the communities they will serve and protect.
When not assisting law enforcement on search warrants and evidence gathering in the field, these K9s are standing by, always willing to provide emotional support and comfort to those in need.
“Our ESD K9s will sit calmly and quietly beside children during the investigation process, which can be an incredibly difficult experience for a survivor,” said Chaz Balough, Relationship Manager with Our Rescue and an ESD K9 handler himself. “Children lean on them, wrap their arms around their necks, play with their ears, talk to them, and sometimes just gaze into their kind brown eyes.”
ESD K9s also provide much-needed distractions as well as reassurance to a child that they are now safe. Chaz shared, “Sometimes there is even an unspoken ease between them. A few precious moments of relief from the stress and emotion that child may be experiencing post-trauma, can make a real difference in the way they feel or their outlook on things.”
ESD K9 Layla Provides Emotional Support to Survivors and Officers During One of the Largest Child Rescue Operations in U.S. History
In November 2025, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier stands before an audience of reporters in the City of Tampa, about to announce the successful conclusion of one of the largest child-recovery operations in U.S. history. He informs the public that 122 missing children had been brought to safety thanks to “Operation Home for the Holidays,” an historic field op led by the U.S. Marshals Service and supported by ESD K9 Layla and her handler, Special Agent Supervisor Ritchie Kaplan of the Tampa Bay Regional Operations Center. Kaplan helped oversee the state’s response for this field operation.
Over the course of two weeks, a multi-disciplinary task force located children ranging in age from 23 months to 17 years old, many who had experienced various levels of abuse, neglect, exploitation, or exposure to other criminal activity according to local news reports. This field operation involved the Tampa Bay region, Orlando, Jacksonville, and Fort Meyers and led to additional rescues in nine other states. Six individuals were arrested on felony charges during the operation.
Throughout the operation, ESD K9 Layla was on standby, quietly providing emotional support and comfort to child survivors. As part of Florida’s Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) task force, Layla and her handler travel across the state to support local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies. She has uncovered hidden storage devices like computer hard drives, flash drives, cell phones, SD cards, and micro-SD cards found to contain child sexual abuse material (CSAM). This evidence led to federal arrests and brought children to safety. It is evidence that would have remained hidden had it not been for Layla’s training.
In Action with ESD K9 Layla in Central Florida
It’s 6:30 a.m. on a Tuesday in January in the small town of Dunnellon near Ocala, Florida. It’s a quiet community, popular with outdoor enthusiasts and known for the turquoise waters of the Withlacoochee and Rainbow Rivers that wind through trees draped in Spanish moss. This is a haven for kayakers and hikers and looks like a scene out of a fanciful children’s book.
Special Agent Kaplan and Layla are on route, responding to a Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) ICAC search warrant.
At the scene, police have already searched a home for any devices containing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). Kaplan and Layla work side by side, methodically moving room to room. She scans for the scent of TPPO, a chemical compound used to manufacture electronic storage devices. She begins to find everyday items that may contain evidence of CSAM – the team works quickly and efficiently with the knowledge that behind every piece of CSAM is a real child in need.
With a population of just over 2,000 residents, the town is especially quiet this morning. Schools will be in session today. Children are inside their homes, waking up, eating breakfast, and getting ready to go to class. Life is normal while somewhere nearby, K9 Layla and law enforcement are hunting the digital footprints of an alleged suspect. Someone who is suspected of exploiting vulnerable children. The threat lives among us, hiding in plain sight.
Layla begins in the living room of the home where the suspect lives. She alerts on a cubby-style shelf unit, specifically to the far-left cubby, one up from the bottom. In this cubby she finds a cube-shaped fabric door where three smart phones have been mixed in with clutter and garbage. Next, she moves to the right side of the unit and alerts on the upper cubby where a black USB flash drive has been hidden. The team collects the devices which had gone unnoticed during the initial search.
Now, Layla and SAS Ritchie move to the bedroom that belongs to the suspect in this case. Layla quickly alerts on a cluttered gray storage container, uncovering an SD card and a micro-SD card that were buried inside the garbage-filled container. Like previous devices, these items constitute evidence and are seized by the search team.
The suspect is arrested and taken into custody.
Exactly two months later, Kaplan and Layla are at a residence in Lakeland, Florida. It is 7:00 a.m. and the ESD K9 team arrives after officers have concluded an initial search of the home.
There is a reason for concern. Layla is finding various electronic storage devices that may contain CSAM. On top of a bed is a clear container with a blue bag inside. The bag contains two smart phones. The team moves to the suspect’s home office where Layla alerts on a media shelf with a popular gaming consol sitting on top. There is a small 1 TB hard drive inserted in the back of the console, a cunning twist. These devices are collected as evidence.
The suspect is arrested and taken into custody.
ESD K9 Bandit in Washoe County in Northern Nevada
It had been months of investigative work; law enforcement was tracking down a 19-year-old man suspected of possessing child sexual abuse material (CSAM). The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) had reason to believe the young man, Giovanni Martinelli, a resident living in northern Reno, was at least in possession of CSAM if not more.
In December 2025, the FBI reached out to the Northern Nevada Internet Crimes Against Children (ICAC) Task Force for assistance serving a residential search warrant on the suspect. Our Rescue’s Electronic Storage Detection (ESD) K9 Bandit was part of the team that responded.
Bandit’s day started like any other dog’s: hoping for adventure, pets and praise, and a ride in the car. This is the life he knows and judging from his enthusiasm and energy, he is “living his best life.” But Bandit has extraordinary skills and extensive training which set him apart from other Labradors.
Bandit graduated from the Jordan Detection K9 program in Indianapolis, where he learned to detect the scent of TPPO. Electronic storage devices are easy for criminals to hide from human search teams, tucked into piles of clothes, stuffed inside cluttered closets, or even concealed inside walls, behind electrical outlets, or buried in the backyard.
Inside Martinelli’s house, Bandit helped Sparks Police Department officers find digital devices containing CSAM, what could be critical evidence in the case. When police interviewed Martinelli on December 3, he not only admitted to possessing CSAM but also to creating it utilizing the images of 12-year-old children, as well as sextorting other victims to gain further CSAM content. The ICAC Task Force arrested and transported the man to jail where he was booked on a felony charge of Possession of Visual Presentation Depicting Sexual Conduct of a Person Under 16 Years of Age. The investigation continues, and local law enforcement is in the process of identifying, locating, and interviewing other potential victims in connection with the case.
On another occasion, Nevada State Police had arrested a suspect on charges of child exploitation in northern Nevada. ESD K9 Bandit was deployed to find digital evidence on search warrants executed at multiple locations. In March 2026, Bandit visited the communities like Fernley, Sparks, and Reno where he followed his well-trained nose to multiple storage devices later found to contain recordings of a possible minor.
Bandit searched an upstairs bedroom that had already been searched by police officers once before. He alerted to the bed where officers found a micro-SD memory card and a car key fob with a concealed camera inside. Downstairs, Bandit alerted to a desk where two cell phones were hidden. He entered another bedroom and found another desk – this time where a USB network adapter was located. A man named Kyle Marcelino Landa was arrested and booked into the Washoe County Jail for using the internet to control a visual presentation depicting the sexual conduct of a minor.
Like other Labrador graduates of the ESD K9 training, Bandit not only uses his “secret superpowers” to help law enforcement gather evidence that may be critical in a case, but he also provides reassuring comfort and companionship to young vulnerable victims who have been brought to safety. Some days, Bandit just enjoys the company of his handler and the other officers on the task force – for him, it’s just a day at the office. Even then, for his coworkers he provides therapeutic support for the officers investigating these difficult cases.
A Network of ESD K9s Rising Up Against Human Trafficking
These are just a few examples of the impact Our Rescue’s ESD K9 teams can have on child exploitation investigations and providing much needed comfort to a vulnerable child survivor whose world feels turned upside down. They Rise Up every day to help identify, investigate, arrest, and prosecute the perpetrators of these unimaginable crimes.
Our Rescue is an active partner in the fight against human trafficking and child exploitation. Over the years, more than 160 ESD K9s have deployed in 38 U.S. states, 4 Canadian provinces, and around the globe. These K9s are up before sunrise, at their partner’s side, ready for whatever the day may bring. These ESD K9s are “force magnifiers” in finding evidence that helps identify victims. Evidence that could protect children. Evidence that might otherwise have remained hidden forever.
