Seven men from Ontario and a man from Abbotsford, B.C. have been charged following a police sting focused on child sexual exploitation.
The B.C. man, Danny DePew, has a lengthy criminal record, including sexual assault, sexual exploitation of a person with a disability, assault, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, break and enter and causing a disturbance.
He has been the subject of several public warnings from the Calgary Police Service after he was released into the area after serving an 18-month sentence for breaching his peace bond.
British Columbia court records also show him facing a charge of child luring related to an offence allegedly committed in Abbotsford on Aug. 6, 2019.
The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) say the men are facing a total of 36 charges, following the joint investigation between the department’s Child Sexual Exploitation Unit and the Peterborough Police Service.
Officers posed as children in online chatrooms and social media over a three-day period in order to find people looking to sexually exploit kids in Peterborough, Ontario.
Investigators communicated with 36 people beyond a simple introduction, including making clear their undercover persona was well outside the legal age of consent.
The conversations also included inappropriate sexual communications, police said.
About a third of the suspects were identified, located and arrested, police said.
Six of the men were taken into custody when they arrived at a location to meet what they thought was a child for a sexual purpose. One of them had driven more than 290 kilometres believing he would have sexual contact with a child, according to police.
Two others were tracked down purely through online investigation, police added.
One of the men was arrested not long after completing a 10-year-term on the Ontario Sex Offender Registry, police said.
Charges range from possession of child pornography and making sexually explicit material available to a child to luring a person under 16.
Charged are:
- Leonard Razon, 21, of Scarborough, Ontario
- Steven Macdonald, 36, of Delta, Ontario
- William Bell, 55, of Shannonville, Ontario
- Chris Parish, 49, of Selwyn Township, Ontario
- Joshua Burgoyne, 40, of Courtice, Ontario
- Jordan Cobb, 36, of Simcoe Ontario,
- Nathan Johnson, 38, of Omemee Ontario
- Danny Edward DePew, 52, of Abbotsford B.C.