Hamilton and Brantford men among 60 arrested in Ontario child sexual exploitation probe
Hamilton and Brantford police executed three warrants and arrested two men in an Ontario-wide investigation into the sexual exploitation of children online.
Province-wide, multiple police forces executed 99 warrants resulting in 60 arrests of individuals who are expected to collectively face nearly 250 charges, including child luring, possessing and distributing child pornography. The ages of those arrested range from teenagers to 63 years old.
So far, 14 victims have been identified.
- Map showing where the charges were filed
- Child sexual exploitation backgrounder.
- Background material on the investigation from the OPP.
OPP Supt. Don Bell told CBC News the arrests are "another wake-up call to those who commit these monstrous crimes against children."
An animation by the OPP was also released, showing where child pornography had been downloaded or accessed by using IP address locations.
"This is not just a big city problem," OPP Insp. Scott Naylor, manager of the OPP's child exploitation unit, told CBC News.
In Hamilton, a 26-year-old man was arrested and charged with two counts of possessing and one count of making child porn available.
In Brantford, a 29-year-old was arrested and charged with two counts each of possessing, distributing and accessing child pornography.
The investigation was conducted by an umbrella group called the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet. Frank Goldschmidt, the OPP's provincial strategy co-ordinator of the group, said it's not likely a co-ordinated effort, as most of the people charged were not known to each other.