Alamance Operation Ghost Wire Nets 23 Arrests in Child Crimes

Alamance County authorities announced on Nov. 13 that a coordinated two week operation resulted in 23 arrests of people accused of soliciting minors online, traveling with intent to engage in sexual contact with a minor, or possessing child sexual abuse material. The Invictus Task Force, a multi agency effort led by the Alamance County Sheriff’s Office, said the arrests were the result of combined cyber tip investigations and undercover chats in the period from Oct. 13 to Oct. 24.

Sheriff Terry Johnson said 18 of the arrests were made in Alamance County and that 14 of those arrested were county residents. Mugshots of the 23 arrested individuals were displayed on a wall at the sheriff’s office during the announcement. Among those arrested was a former Elon University student, Masungulo Musikavanhu, who was arrested Oct. 16 and charged with indecent liberties with a child and solicitation of a child by computer. According to an arrest report, Alamance County deputies said Musikavanhu solicited a minor with the intention to meet and commit an unlawful sex act and then appeared at the meeting location. The Office of the Registrar confirmed Musikavanhu enrolled at Elon in February of 2024 and withdrew Oct. 16, 2025. Elon was one of nine agencies that assisted in the operation.

The Invictus Task Force includes sheriff’s offices from Alamance, Randolph, Davidson and Forsyth counties, Homeland Security Investigations and the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigations. Kevin Roughton, a special agent in charge at NCSBI, said the cyber tips that helped prompt investigations come from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children CyberTipline and that popular social media platforms are common entry points for predators. "What we've seen in the last few years is this dramatic explosion," Roughton said. "From where in 2019, we had less than 5,000 tips, this year we'll receive about 45,000 tips."

Sheriff Johnson offered a working definition of sexual predators during the press conference. "A person seen as obtaining or trying to obtain contact with another person in a metaphorically or predatory or abusive way, and we have had a bunch of that going on in Alamance County and our surrounding counties," Johnson said. The task force also works with the Invictus Project, whose founder and CEO Ray Dawson urged community prevention efforts. "We are not gonna enforce our way out of this," Dawson said. "It's gonna take us to collaborate together with parents and people that are in a position of trust over our children, because we're gonna have to educate our way out of this."

For local residents the arrests underscore the proximity of online threats and the need for parental vigilance, school and campus awareness, and continued coordination among law enforcement, universities and community organizations to reduce exploitation risks.