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Cumming man indicted after multi-state child exploitation sting
Tang, Wan Yeung.jpg
Wan Yeung Tang

Formal charges have been filed against a man from Cumming that was arrested in early May as part of a multi-state child exploitation operation across the South.

On Monday, May 13, a grand jury in the Forsyth County Superior Court indicted Wan Yeung Tang, 45, with five counts of sexual exploitation of children for allegedly possessing five videos showing minors engaged in sexually explicit situations, indictment documents state.

According to Assistant District Attorney Michael Mahoney, Tang was originally charged with one count of sexual exploitation of children in September of 2017. The new charges added were part of a larger investigation by the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

Tang and another local man, Matthew Steven Ramski, 37, were among the 31 in Georgia and 82 total arrested in eight southeastern states during the operation, dubbed “Operation Southern Impact III,” the GBI announced on May 10.

The operation involved 171 law enforcement and prosecutorial agencies, the GBI said, including the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office, and took four months, culminating in a three-day sting across Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia.

The operation focused on those who possess and distribute child pornography and “those who are sexually exploiting children in other ways using technology and the internet,” the GBI said in a press release.

Additionally, 17 children were rescued or identified as victims.

The suspects were targeted from cybertips received by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, the GBI said, leading to search warrant executions, undercover operations, arrests and sex offender compliance verification visits.

In Georgia, most arrests involved the possession and/or distribution of child pornography, the GBI said, including material involving infants and toddlers.

Tang appeared in court before Superior Court Judge David L. Dickinson for an arraignment on Thursday, entering a plea of not guilty to the alleged charges.

Mahoney said that Tang’s bond from 2017 was revoked due to the new charges. He is being held in the Forsyth County Jail with no bond.

In a statement to the Forsyth County News, Tang’s attorney Richard Grossman said that they could not comment until they have reviewed the case’s evidence.

Editor Brian Paglia contributed to this report.