Surrey man convicted in international child exploitation investigation

A Surrey, B.C., man has been convicted of child pornography offences as a part of an international investigation that cracked a child exploitation network and led to the rescue of eight kids.

Joey Andy Daigle, 34, was handed an 18-month conditional sentence last month for possession of and for making child pornography available. He has also been placed on the sex offender registry.

Police began investigating Daigle in 2018, acting on information from federal policing officials about a joint investigation by the Boone Police Department in North Carolina, and U.S. Homeland Security Investigations.

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A detective with the Boone department, pretending to be a teen girl, had infiltrated an online group trafficking sexually abusive images of children, the RCMP said in a Wednesday media release.

The detective was then able to gain access to other groups, and the investigation grew nationally and internationally.

British Columbia’s Integrated Child Exploitation Unit was one of multiple agencies alerted to 38 leads in the case, and police searched Daigle’s home in April 2019. He was charged the following year.

Police have since made 23 arrests around the world. The online group’s administrator, Dustin Haynes, was sentenced to 65 months in prison in North Carolina.

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The U.S. District Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of North Carolina said the investigation also led to the rescue of eight children from “sexually abusive situations.”

“As an example, an Ohio man was quickly arrested and his 14 year-old daughter was rescued. He had been sexually abusing her for ten years,” the office said in a media release.

“Another individual was arrested on an oil rig in the North Sea and his 5 year-old daughter was rescued.”

Daigle’s conditional sentence comes with multiple conditions including restrictions on contact with children under the age of 16.