OPP charge 80 linked to child porn, including 11 in northern Ontario
CBC News | Posted: April 28, 2016 7:18 PM | Last Updated: April 28, 2016
Over 274 offences alleging sexual assault, making, distributing and accessing child pornography
Ontario Provincial Police have laid charges against 80 people, including 11 in northern Ontario, after a province-wide investigation into internet child exploitation.
The charges involve more than 274 offences, including sexual assault, and making, distributing and accessing child pornography, police said Thursday.
From northern Ontario, five of the accused men are from Sault Ste. Marie, three from Greater Sudbury, as well as others from Timmins, North Bay and Thunder Bay.
A total of 174 search warrants were carried out in recent days.
Additional arrests are pending.
Child porn a 'revictimization' of children: OPP
Police said 20 victims were identified during the investigation.
Investigators found minors, including girls aged 14, 15 and 16, working in the sex trade against their will and police rescued them, removing them from the situations that they were in and taking them to safety.
OPP Chief Supt. Don Bell told reporters at Toronto's Pearson airport on Thursday that the charges are a result of 27 police forces working together, including the RCMP, Canada Border Services Agency and U.S. Homeland Security.
"Child pornography is sexual abuse of our children and every image of child pornography is a revictimization of that child," Bell said.
"The creation and distribution of images of child sexual abuse, the luring of young people by predators and the proliferation of internet sites, where pictures of every imaginable sex act can be accessed by anyone, continues to be a major concern to police agencies worldwide."