Curtis George, the owner and operator of PanicStream, a popular fan-run database and setlist resource for followers of Widespread Panic, is one of 244 people charged in a recent roundup of child sex offenders in North Texas.
A press release issued by the United States Department of Justice on Tuesday, June 10th referred to the recently wrapped initiative, named Operation Soteria Shield, as “a month-long collaborative enforcement effort conducted in April 2025 aimed at rescuing children from online sexual exploitation and bringing perpetrators to justice. This operation was run in conjunction with the National Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force and was jointly managed by the FBI Dallas Division, Dallas Police Department, Plano Police Department, Wylie Police Department, and Garland Police Department.”
The announcement also noted that Operation Soteria Shield “resulted in the rescue of 109 children and the arrest of 244 offenders.” The press release did not clarify the meaning of “rescue” as it pertains to Operation Solteria Shield and its associated victims, though Plano Police Department Assistant Chief Dan Curtis said, “During this operation, many of the children recognized or rescued were previously unidentified. They’d never been reported missing. They had never had their abuse known to authorities.”
“More than 70 Texas law enforcement agencies joined forces throughout the month of April to combat the exploitation of children in the digital space,” the Justice Department press release added. “These agencies leveraged the expertise of highly skilled computer crimes investigators that worked around the clock to identify victims and apprehend offenders engaged in the production, distribution, and possession of child sexual abuse material. … In addition to these enforcement actions, investigators seized extensive volumes of digital evidence, including terabytes of illicit data stored on electronic devices that were used in the commission of these crimes. These devices are undergoing forensic analysis and may lead to further arrests and the identification of additional victims. … In the Eastern District of Texas, this Operation has led to the grand jury indictment of individuals for not only distributing child pornography, but also sexually exploiting children to produce child sexual abuse material.”
The names and faces of the 244 alleged child sex offenders charged via Operation Soteria Shield were revealed in a composite image published by FBI Dallas.
[Image via FBI Dallas – The 244 people charged as part of Operation Soteria Shield]
FBI Dallas Press Conference on Operation Soteria Shield – 6/10/25
Due to the broad scope of Operation Soteria Shield and the cumulative reporting on its outcomes, the specific charges against PanicStream owner and operator Curtis George and the rest of the individuals accused remain unclear as of publication time.
Since its launch in 2005, the PanicStream.com has served as many Widespread Panic fans’ primary database for information about the band, from real-time setlist updates during shows to full concert recordings to other news, media, and information. Until a CBS News article on the Operation Soteria Shield arrests featuring George’s name and photo made the rounds on Monday morning, a PanicStream Facebook group with more than 38,000 members had remained active for nearly as long. Although George himself formerly posted and led discussion threads in the group, he has not been active on Facebook for several years, allowing various moderators to run the ongoing discourse.
By Monday morning, as news of George’s implication in the child sex crime investigation reached the Panic fan community, the PanicStream Facebook group had officially been “paused” and its various moderators and admins had vacated their roles on the group page. The name of the group had also been changed from “PanicStream” to “WE ARE DONE HERE.”
The main PanicStream website remains in operation as of publication time. A former admin of the PanicStream Facebook group explained to Live For Live Music that while various admins and moderators had access to the Facebook group, Curtis George is the only person with backend access to the PanicStream website. PanicStream is not officially affiliated with Widespread Panic.
Related: Thousands Of Widespread Panic Fans Secretly Raise $20K To Fund PanicStream Database
Back in 2017, Live For Live Music interviewed Curtis George after the Panic fan community secretly raised $20,000 via various online initiatives to help cover PanicStream’s monthly web hosting costs. Fellow fans of the band later surprised Curtis with a giant commemorative check for the sum during setbreak of Widespread Panic’s New Year’s Eve 2017 concert in Atlanta.
Jeremy Brown, one of the former moderators of the PanicStream Facebook group, told Live For Live Music on Monday that he and various other active members of the Widespread Panic fan community are already working on a new fan-run database site, HomeTeam.FM, and an accompanying Facebook group of the same name, which will operate “more like a democracy.” [Editor’s note: In the meantime, you can relisten to all of Widespread Panic’s recent shows via nugs.]
“The Panic community is done with PanicStream,” Brown added.
This story is developing.
