A 12-day “Catch a Predator”-style sting, coordinated among 21 different Canadian police services, resulted in dozens of arrests and 128 child exploitation charges this week. However, most of the suspects were released shortly after their arrests.
The Ontario Provincial Police announced the sting operation’s results on Thursday offering insights on how they achieved so many arrests in such a short time.
OPP said officers posed as children online and then waited for the accused to make contact.
Undercover officers infiltrated online chat rooms, much like the “To Catch a Predator” segments from Dateline NBC, to identify individuals seeking to sexually exploit children, resulting in numerous arrests.
They also added that while the officers were posing as children online, they identified nine victims who are now receiving support.
The list of arrestees is diverse, with one occurring in British Columbia and the rest stretching into all corners of the province of Ontario. It includes a visually impaired, one-legged man living on disability, at least one company executive, several students, a teacher, a university law professor, a policy analyst, and even a Zamboni driver.
The 36 accused perps range widely in age, from 18 to 73.
Among the youngest of the accused was Meet Joshi, 22, of Niagara Falls, who was charged with two counts of luring a person under 16 to obtain sexual services.
Joshi was released from custody and will appear in court on June 27 in St. Catharines.
Amongst the oldest of the accused was James Daw, 73, of Hamilton. Daw faces a litany of related to child luring, sexual assault, and child pornography.
Daw is one of the only accused who remains remanded into custody following the large-scale sting.
Many on social media expressed outrage over how many of the suspects had been released from custody prior to the OPP’s Thursday afternoon announcement.
For their own part, the OPP were hardly overly self-congratulatory, noting the sting only serves as an unnerving reminder of the prevalence of online predators.
“These results highlight a sobering reality: predators can easily reach children in online spaces,” said OPP Det. Staff Sgt. Tim Brown.
Police said forces involved in tracking child predators have noticed an uptick inbchild sexual abuse material appearing online in recent years.
“We urge parents and guardians to remain vigilant and to talk to your children about staying safe online. Just as you wouldn’t leave your child alone in a city, don’t let them navigate the online world alone.”
In addition to the 36 arrests, which resulted in 128 charges, police said another 51 investigations remain underway.