Watch above: OPP-led investigation nets 60 people in huge child exploitation investigation. Mark Carcasole reports.
TORONTO – A total of 60 people, included three youths, have been arrested and 249 charges laid in connection to an Ontario multi-jurisdictional police investigation into internet child exploitation.
Ontario Provincial Police say the arrests were the result of 99 search warrants executed province-wide, which included the seizure of drugs and weapons.
As of Thursday afternoon, police had laid a total of 249 charges against 60 people, including three people who are under the age of 18.
One of the 60 suspects include a caretaker at a TDSB school on Roehampton Avenue near Yonge Street and Eglinton Avenue in Toronto.
“The sweep carried out over the past few days is another wake-up call to those who commit these monstrous crimes against children,” Chief Supt. Don Bell told a news conference.
Bell said most of the people charged don’t know each other.
Those arrested face multiple charges including sexual assault, possession of child pornography, making child pornography and distribution of child pornography.
“It is one of the most difficult jobs in police work you can imagine,” said Insp. Scott Naylor, referring to thousands of images investigators were forced to view during the operation.
In addition to the arrests, 14 child victims were also identified and rescued during the investigation, police said during a press conference on the investigation Thursday morning.
The investigation was part of the province’s Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet, which has been coordinated with the help of 27 police forces.
Police say more than 7,000 individual Internet Protocol addresses were identified as download candidates for suspected child pornography over a period of 180 days in various urban and rural communities.
“This investigation highlights the pervasiveness of Internet-based dangers of child luring, sexual exploitation and abuse,” said OPP Inspector Scott Naylor said in a media release.
“Children, teens and parents also have a responsibility to educate themselves to ensure their Internet and social networking experiences can be as rewarding as
they want it to be and as safe as it needs to be.”
Police say the investigation is ongoing and additional arrests are pending.
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