Hundreds of charges filed as part of OPP investigation into child sexual abuse

The Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) announced Wednesday what the service described as “astonishing findings” from a series of investigations into online child sexual abuse and exploitation.

The multi-jurisdictional investigation involved 27 police departments from across the province, including in the Greater Toronto Area.

Det. Tim Brown told reporters Wednesday that the investigation was focused on individuals who create, access and distribute child sexual abuse material.

There are now 64 people across Ontario facing a total of 348 charges, including 34 child victims. Police said they seized 607 digital devices as part of the investigation.

“Every year the tools of predators seeking to harm our children become more sophisticated and harder to detect,” Brown said.

In a news release issued Wednesday, police said that during the course of the investigation, a person arranged a meeting with undercover officers because they thought they were meeting with a child.

In another case, police found an individual in possession of approximately 21 terabytes of data, including child sexual abuse material.

A list of those charged in connection with the case provided by police includes people from across the province and one man from Alberta.

The defendants range in age – the youngest is a 16-year-old from Windsor charged with possessing, accessing and making available child pornography, while the oldest is an 89-year-old man from Toronto charged with possessing child pornography.

Brown said some of the defendants charged as part of this investigation had previously been released and were out on bail, but he did not provide specific numbers on the number.

Brown also said AI-generated images have created a problem for investigators, who now have to distinguish between what he called “real and synthetic victims.”

Signy Arnason, deputy executive director of the Canadian Center for Child Protection, told reporters on Wednesday that the number of AI-generated sexual abuse images her team is finding continues to increase:

She said they found 2,600 such images in 2022, compared to 3,700 in 2023 and 500 in one month alone this year.

“So we’re probably on track to reach at least 6,000 this year,” she said.

“To say it’s a nightmare would be an understatement.”