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'More than 100' victims in Ont. child porn bust
Updated Sat. Jul. 29 2006 11:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A 21-year-old Ontario man has been charged in a major international child pornography case that one investigator says may involve more than 100 victims.
Canadian and British police have called it one of the largest child pornography cases of its kind in history.
Police allege that a man from Kingston, Ontario posed as one of the girls' friends in email and instant messages and then coerced them into disrobing and performing sexual acts for a web camera.
"(The suspect) would convince those victims to expose themselves to him by a webcam, at which time he would capture those images," Ontario Provincial Police Det. Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt said at a press conference in Toronto Friday morning.
The accused would later reveal he was not who the victims thought he was, and threaten them if they wouldn't cooperate in providing him with more images.
"If those particular victims would not perform further sexual acts as his request, he would initially threaten to post these images or movie files to other websites, to family members or to friends."
The suspect allegedly also used threats of rape, bodily harm and death in order to coerce the victims into committing further sexual acts for the webcam so that he could capture the images onto his computer, Goldschmidt said.
The victims are between 9 and 15 years of age and live in Edmonton, Kingston, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and in the United Kingdom, police said. All of the victims appear to be female.
An initial scan of the suspect's computer system "has revealed the potential for an extreme number of additional victims," Goldschmidt said.
"I have never seen this many victims involved, and I'm safe to say that at this point and time in this early stage of this investigation we're looking at well in excess of 100," he said.
Investigators are still examining a large volume of material and information on the computer, hard drives and floppy disks police have seized.
The accused is unemployed and was living at home with his parents, police said, and there is no indication he was trying to make money through his alleged actions.
At this stage of their investigation police believe the accused was acting alone.
Police allege he operated under the screen names Marco1812000 and Supalover666.
The technique used to hack into the girls' email profiles and acquire their buddy lists was sophisticated, said Goldschmidt, who noted that he doesn't know how to do it.
Kent Police helped identify the victims in England, but the force's Insp. Stephen Evans said it is still not clear why girls were being targeted in his homeland.
Thursday's arrest came after a nine-month investigation by police forces in Ontario, the RCMP and Kent police.
Appearing on CTV's Canada AM before the press conference, Goldschmidt said working with other police forces is crucial in the global fight against child porn.
"The Internet is a world wide network and it basically forces us to communicate with other law enforcement agencies because the Internet allows individuals to communicate with individuals around the world," he said.
"So for us to complete our investigations, we need to speak to other law enforcement forces from around the world."
Goldschmidt, however, said stronger legislation is needed to crack down on pedophiles.
Parents need to educate themselves about dangers the Internet poses to their children, police said. A key safeguard is to keep the computer in a room where the children's use can be supervised. There are also programs parents can use to limit the websites their children can reach.
Mark Gary Bedford, 21, from Kingston, Ont., has been charged with two counts of child luring, two counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of making child pornography, two counts of distributing child pornography and three counts of extortion.
All of these charges stem from victims in Edmonton, police said. More charges are pending. Bedford is being held in a Kingston jail and his next court appearance is on Monday.
Here's the Link:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...ography_arrest_060728/20060728?hub=TopStories
Those freaks make me sick to my stomach!
Updated Sat. Jul. 29 2006 11:38 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A 21-year-old Ontario man has been charged in a major international child pornography case that one investigator says may involve more than 100 victims.
Canadian and British police have called it one of the largest child pornography cases of its kind in history.
Police allege that a man from Kingston, Ontario posed as one of the girls' friends in email and instant messages and then coerced them into disrobing and performing sexual acts for a web camera.
"(The suspect) would convince those victims to expose themselves to him by a webcam, at which time he would capture those images," Ontario Provincial Police Det. Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt said at a press conference in Toronto Friday morning.
The accused would later reveal he was not who the victims thought he was, and threaten them if they wouldn't cooperate in providing him with more images.
"If those particular victims would not perform further sexual acts as his request, he would initially threaten to post these images or movie files to other websites, to family members or to friends."
The suspect allegedly also used threats of rape, bodily harm and death in order to coerce the victims into committing further sexual acts for the webcam so that he could capture the images onto his computer, Goldschmidt said.
The victims are between 9 and 15 years of age and live in Edmonton, Kingston, Ottawa, Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., and in the United Kingdom, police said. All of the victims appear to be female.
An initial scan of the suspect's computer system "has revealed the potential for an extreme number of additional victims," Goldschmidt said.
"I have never seen this many victims involved, and I'm safe to say that at this point and time in this early stage of this investigation we're looking at well in excess of 100," he said.
Investigators are still examining a large volume of material and information on the computer, hard drives and floppy disks police have seized.
The accused is unemployed and was living at home with his parents, police said, and there is no indication he was trying to make money through his alleged actions.
At this stage of their investigation police believe the accused was acting alone.
Police allege he operated under the screen names Marco1812000 and Supalover666.
The technique used to hack into the girls' email profiles and acquire their buddy lists was sophisticated, said Goldschmidt, who noted that he doesn't know how to do it.
Kent Police helped identify the victims in England, but the force's Insp. Stephen Evans said it is still not clear why girls were being targeted in his homeland.
Thursday's arrest came after a nine-month investigation by police forces in Ontario, the RCMP and Kent police.
Appearing on CTV's Canada AM before the press conference, Goldschmidt said working with other police forces is crucial in the global fight against child porn.
"The Internet is a world wide network and it basically forces us to communicate with other law enforcement agencies because the Internet allows individuals to communicate with individuals around the world," he said.
"So for us to complete our investigations, we need to speak to other law enforcement forces from around the world."
Goldschmidt, however, said stronger legislation is needed to crack down on pedophiles.
Parents need to educate themselves about dangers the Internet poses to their children, police said. A key safeguard is to keep the computer in a room where the children's use can be supervised. There are also programs parents can use to limit the websites their children can reach.
Mark Gary Bedford, 21, from Kingston, Ont., has been charged with two counts of child luring, two counts of possession of child pornography, three counts of making child pornography, two counts of distributing child pornography and three counts of extortion.
All of these charges stem from victims in Edmonton, police said. More charges are pending. Bedford is being held in a Kingston jail and his next court appearance is on Monday.
Here's the Link:
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNe...ography_arrest_060728/20060728?hub=TopStories
Those freaks make me sick to my stomach!