Kitchener man among the 36 people charged in child sex exploitation bust

CTV News

2 days ago

A provincewide investigation into child sexual exploitation has resulted in the arrest of 36 people.
Among them is a 32-year-old Kitchener man, who has not been named. He's charged with two counts of making child pornography available and two counts of possession of child pornography.
Ontario Provincial Police said 128 criminal charges were laid during the luring investigation, which ran from March 31 to April 11.
'Investigators utilized undercover techniques to access online chatrooms and social media applications in order to identify, locate and arrest persons looking to sexually exploit children,' they explained in a media release Thursday. 'Although this was a luring investigation in which officers posed as children online and waited for offenders to make contact, nine real victims were identified. They have been provided support and are safe.'
OPP said the men were between the ages of 18 and 73. They lived in Ottawa, Pickering, Hamilton, London, Burlington, West Lincoln, Niagara Falls, Mississauga, Toronto, Vaughn, Belleville, Barrie, Chatham, Hensall, Ayton, St. Catharines, Sudbury, Burlington, Hamilton, Brampton and Abottsford, B.C. Some of them could not be identified due to a publication ban.
Police said one of the men arrived at a meet-up with snacks, while another brought lubricant and condoms.
Only one of the accused was listed on the National Sex Offender Registry.
OPP said another 51 investigations are ongoing.
The Provincial Internet Child Exploitation Strategy is made up of the Ontario Provincial Police Child Sexual Exploitation Unit, Ministry of the Attorney General, Ministry of the Solicitor General, and 26 municipal police forces, including: the Brantford Police Service, the Guelph Police Service and the Waterloo Regional Police Service.
Anyone with information that could help with the investigation is asked to contact their local police service or report it online to cybertip.ca.