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Locals snared in child porn ring |
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Written by Pamela Roth LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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Thursday, March 26 2009, 9:39 PM |
Three southern Albertans are facing charges of possessing child porn after police conducted the largest-ever, nation-wide investigation into Internet-based sex abuse involving children.
Nearly 100 charges, ranging from sexual assault and sexual interference, to possessing, making and distributing child pornography, are expected to be laid against 57 individuals who have been arrested across the country, including three men, under 30, from Blairmore, Medicine Hat, Calgary and the Edmonton area. Since the investigation is ongoing and charges have yet to be laid, police are not releasing the names of the men.
More than 30 police agencies throughout the country came together to participate in Project Salvo, developed by the National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre (NCECC) in Ottawa. Investigators used various investigative techniques to identify individuals using the Internet to distribute child sexual abuse images.
Lethbridge regional police Const. Keon Woronuk works under the Alberta Integrated Child Exploitation (ICE) team, and was contacted by NCECC, to participate in the five-month long investigation, which focused on users who would meet other like-minded individuals and exchange images online.
Woronuk was not able to comment on the specifics of the investigation, the material seized or the volume of images and video, but said no victims have been identified locally or provincially.
A total of 130 computers have been seized by police, who now have the task of searching through every one of them to determine what exactly is on them — which could take months to complete.
“These investigations are lengthy. It’s not as easy as you would think. The prep work going into an investigation like this and the follow up after takes months, sometimes even years,” said Woronuk, who noted catching Internet child predators isn’t difficult. “These online images and videos contain real victims — real children being sexually abused. If you are involved in illegal activity on the Internet, it’s quite easy to catch you and we will catch you.”
According to Woronuk, child pornography charges are quite frequent. In Canada, an attempt to even access child pornography on the Internet is considered illegal. Under the criminal code, offenders who possess images of children under the age of 18 engaging in sexual activity may now be sentenced up to five years in prison. Worldwide, it’s estimated there are more than 100,000 child porn web sites, with millions of images of children being sexually abused or exploited.
While the investigators called the project an “unqualified success,” given the nature of the allegations and the magnitude of the problem, there was zero sense of celebration among law enforcement officials.
“Unfortunately, the numbers you hear about today and in the days that follow will not please anyone,” said Supt. John Bilinski, the Mountie in charge of the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children.
A number of children were removed from danger, police said, although they would provide no specifics.
The seized images range from infants with their umbilical cords still showing to 17-year-olds. The vast majority of child pornography, about 80 per cent, depicts children under age eight, said Lianna McDonald, director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
Up to 40 per cent of those images involve sexual assaults.
“We’re dealing with a very dark side of human behaviour,” said McDonald.
For more information about Internet safety and sexuality the public is encouraged to visit the following sites: www.cybertip.ca, www.protectchildren.ca, www,ncecc.gc.ca and www.deal.org.
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