One of the men arrested in Canada in relation to an international online child-exploitation network that used Facebook is a former Vancouver private school teacher, police say.
Christopher Charles Ingvaldson was arrested in June and has been charged with four counts related to child exploitation, said Sgt. Tony Cavezza of the Vancouver Police Department.
A second man was arrested in Kelowna, B.C., but was released without charges, although police are still investigating, said RCMP spokesman Const. Steve Holmes.
The Australian Federal Police announced Thursday a total of 11 people have been arrested as part of a co-ordinated operation across Australia, the United Kingdom and Canada.
Three arrests have been made in Australia and six in the United Kingdom, including one suspect who authorities say they believe is the head of the network.
"We were contacted on May 26 by the RCMP," said Cavezza, who was in charge of the Vancouver investigation. "On June 4, we arrested (Ingvaldson) and executed search warrants."
St. George’s School, where Ingvalson worked, dismissed him from his job when he was arrested in June.
At the time of the arrest, the school posted a note on its website saying the police had not made any "investigative links to any of (their) students or staff."
"(This kind of) activity is quite prolific. It also ties in with other websites, like Craigslist," Cavezza said.
"The number of people engaged in this activity is quite substantial. Sometimes we have trouble keeping up because there’s so much of it."
Ingvaldson’s ties to the broader investigation could not be revealed until now because it risked jeopardizing open cases, he said.
Ingvaldson’s next court appearance is on Sept. 21 in Vancouver provincial court, Cavezza said.
The RCMP partnered with the Australian Federal Police and the FBI in March to begin the investigation, Australian Federal Police said in a news release.
A member of the Australian police created an online identity on Facebook and was approached by a member of the network.
Upon further investigation, the officer realized the network spanned several continents.
"One of our most effective strategies against Internet-facilitated child sexual abuse is co-operation," said RCMP Supt. John Bilinski, who heads the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
"No single agency can deal with this crime in isolation. We continually work together with our partners to ensure the safety and security of children, regardless of where they live."
The centre gets thousands of files each year and many of them come from international partners, Sgt. Laura Prosper told Postmedia News.
Many people still believe they are anonymous on the Internet or go to great lengths to disguise themselves online, said Prosper.
"But they should be on the run," she said. "We’re going to get (them)."
The investigation into the alleged exploitation network isn’t necessarily complete, she said.
A registered sex offender in Britain involved in the ring was sentenced Thursday to four years in prison after pleading guilty to a litany of charges related to child exploitation, said Australian police.
I think you forgot to mention the juiciest detail of this story, the fact that this pig is a good friend in Justin Trudeau! Yeah, I can see why you’d skip that part!