6 East Bay men are accused of exploiting kids

Six men across the East Bay were arrested in a range of alleged offenses related to child exploitation, including attempted kidnapping of minors for sexual acts and attempted production of child pornography, officials said Friday.

The arrests were made Feb. 26-March 7 following an undercover operation run by the Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and the Danville Police Department in conjunction with multiple other local, state and federal agencies, officer Ted Asregadoo wrote in a press release. The investigatory effort, called “Operation Broken Heart,” attempted to identify individuals on the internet who intended to travel to meet minors and engage in sex acts.

Two of the arrests involved undercover officers posing as minors online and engaging in online chats with the suspects.

Four of the men were charged by the Contra Costa District Attorney’s Office and two of the cases are still being reviewed by prosecutors, wrote Asregadoo.

The four men who were charged are Brady Allen Godsey-Lally, 27, a Brentwood resident; Mahmut Guzelsu, 27, a Benicia resident; Elmer Desiderio Ramirez-Lucha, 45, a Pittsburg resident; and Alexander Derrick Hellmund, 59, a Concord resident. They were arrested and booked for felonies including attempting to kidnap a minor for sex, attempted lewd acts with a minor and arranging to meet a minor for sex, according to the press release.

One of the men, Joseph Rudolfo Martinez, 38, was a 10th grade English teacher at Tennyson High School in Hayward, officials said.

Hayward Unified School District spokesperson Michael Bazeley wrote in a statement that Martinez was immediately released from employment on March 1, the day of his arrest, and Tennyson staff members and families were notified of the development the following Monday.

Bazeley wrote that all new district employees are subject to a Department of Justice background check, but Martinez’s background check did not return any problematic past behavior.

“We are working closely with authorities to support the investigation as needed, and we are grateful that no HUSD students appear to have been involved,” Bazeley wrote.

Martinez and another Hayward resident, 44year-old James Paul Walsh, both posted bail, and their cases are being reviewed by prosecutors. They have not yet been charged with any crime.