Iowa law enforcement officers arrested two men Friday in a child pornography investigation. Matt Whitaker, U.S. Attorney for Iowa’s Southern District, says the arrests occured as agents served 15 search warrants across the bottom half of the state from Council Bluffs to Davenport. He says the investigation, dubbed "Operation Wire Breaker," involves individuals who are suspected of possession and distribution of pictures and videos of children being sexually exploited.

Both men arrested Friday are charged with Distribution of Child Pornography. They’re identified as 40-year-old Hugo Alberto Duran-Garcia of West Des Moines and 53-year-old Ralph Johnston of Clemmons. Whitaker declined to release much more information at a Friday afternoon press conference. "Most of the details are not known yet, because all we did today was execute search warrants at 15 different addresses," Whitaker said.

Although only two arrests were made, the effort involved more than 120 law enforcement officer from 22 different agencies. "I will say that I think members of law enforcement were concerned enough that we wanted to do something…and move this investigation forward," Whitaker explained. He says more arrests are possible, calling it an open federal investigation.

A professional fundraising company based in Arizona is accused of deceptive marketing practices in Iowa. Bob Brammer, spokesperson for the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, says Midwest Publishing is named in a lawsuit filed today. "We allege that they made thousands of calls into Iowa and that people were misled," Brammer said.

Under a court-ordered agreement, Midwest Publishing denied any wrongdoing but agreed to pay 30-thousand dollars to the state and could pay 100-thousand dollars more if the deceptive practices persist. Brammer says the company’s telemarketers were not completely honest with the Iowans they called. "They used misrepresentations, implying or saying that they were members of the charitable organization, or that the money was going to be used locally, when that wasn’t the case," Brammer said. The telemarketers allegedly said a large portion of any donation would go to the charity when, in fact, the charity only received about 15-percent of the money raised while Midwest kept the remaining 85-percent. Some of the callers lied and said they were Iowans themselves.

Brammer says there are several dozen professional fundraising companies registered in Iowa that are hired to solicit donations on behalf of charities. "And sometimes, number one, the professional fundraiser eats up most of the donation, but number two, sometimes they engage in deception and misrepresentation," Brammer said. "That’s what we allege happened here." According to the complaint, Midwest solicited donations in Iowa on behalf of the Iowa Narcotics Officers Association, the Firefighters Charitable Foundation in New York and Operation Lookout in Everett, Washington.