FBI Arrests Eight Suspects in Child-Sex Sting

An FBI sting led to the arrests of seven men on suspicion of seeking sex with boys, and of an eighth man, an Orange County minister, on suspicion of distributing child pornography, the FBI said Monday.

The seven men were charged Saturday in U.S. District Court with unlawful travel to engage in sex with a minor, said Laura Eimiller of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

During the investigation, the FBI set up a fake travel company that offered a trip to Mexico to meet boys for sex, Eimiller said.

On Friday, the seven men arrived in Southern California from six states for an overnight stay with the expectation of boarding a boat to Ensenada, where they were told that sex with the boys was awaiting them at a bed-and-breakfast, Eimiller said. Through the undercover agent, she alleged, they requested that the boys be as young as 8.

The following morning, four were arrested in Los Angeles and three in San Diego.

The eighth man, arrested Saturday in Orange County in connection with the sting, was Jeff Devore, 53, of Fullerton.

Eimiller said he is a minister at Brea Congregational Church. The FBI also said he is a chiropractor.

He is alleged to have distributed child pornography to an undercover agent during the investigation, the FBI said. He was not going to Mexico.

Devore was allowed to post bail, she said, but it was not known whether he had done so. No one at the church could be reached for comment.

“This investigation exemplifies the FBI’s commitment nationwide, and the commitment of our local, state and federal task force partners, to finding child predators within the United States and beyond our borders,” said Richard Garcia, assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles office.

The others arrested were: Sam Lindblad, 56, of Albuquerque; Gregory Mark Nusca, 43, also known as David R. Busby or Steven West, of Dania Beach, Fla.; Steven K. Irvin, 46, of Pittsburgh, a special education teacher; Richard Stutsman, 59, of Seneca, S.C., a substitute teacher; Phillip Todd Calvin, 43, of Dallas; David Cory Mayer, 49, of Chicago, a flight attendant, and Paul Ernest Zipszer, 39, of Deltona, Fla.