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Police release local details in child porn bust

Greater Sudbury Police Service has released further details of its involvement in the massive child pornography bust earlier this week.
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Three people face fraud-related charges after allegedly printing fake cheques, said Greater Sudbury Police Service.

Greater Sudbury Police Service has released further details of its involvement in the massive child pornography bust earlier this week.

Locally, Greater Sudbury Police Service Cyber Crime Unit conducted investigations resulting in the following charges:

On Sept. 17 2014, a search warrant was executed at a Greater Sudbury residence wherein computers were seized, which resulted in officers locating evidence of child pornography. A 48-year old Sudbury man was charged with 10 counts of possession of child pornography, nine counts of accessing child pornography, as well as eight counts of making available child pornography. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 2 2014.

On Sept. 25 2014, a search warrant was executed at a Greater Sudbury residence wherein computers were seized. A 34-year old Sudbury man currently facing unrelated child pornography offences was charged with one count of breach of recognizance, as well as two counts of accessing child pornography. He is scheduled to appear in court on Sept. 26 2014.

On Sept. 4 2014, a search warrant was executed at a Greater Sudbury residence wherein evidence was seized and the investigation is ongoing. A 35-year old Sudbury man, who was not the target of the investigation, was charged with one count of obstructing police as a result of warning a person of interest. He is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 22 2014.

Original story

Two men from Greater Sudbury are among 60 people facing close to 250 charges following an Ontario-wide police investigation into Internet child exploitation.

A 48-year-old Sudbury man faces nine counts of accessing child pornography, 10 counts of possession of child pornography and eight counts of making available child pornography.

A 35-year-old Copper Cliff resident is charged with one count of obstructing police.

In a massive co-ordinated investigation against online child exploitation, Ontario Provincial Police have charged 60 people and say they will continue working to put predators out of business.

As of Thursday morning, police said, 99 search warrants had been executed across Ontario, resulting in 249 charges against the 60 suspects, who live in rural and urban communities throughout the province.

"The sweep carried out over the past few days is another wake-up call to those who commit these monstrous crimes against children," Chief Supt. Don Bell told a news conference.

Most of the suspects are not known to one another, Bell said.

The raids also led to the rescue of 14 child victims and the seizure of drugs and some weapons, which police said were not gang-related.

It's anticipated more arrests will be made and more victims identified as the investigation continues.

Among those charged are three people under age 18, who cannot be identified under provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act. Others charged range in age from 19 to 63.

"The charges include sexual assault, sexual interference, child luring, possession of child pornography, making available child pornography, distribution of child pornography, making child pornography and accessing child pornography," said Det. Staff Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt.

"It is one of the most difficult jobs in police work you can imagine," said Insp. Scott Naylor, referring to the thousands of "horrific images" officers had to view during their investigation.

In announcing the crackdown Thursday, police praised the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet.

Since the launch of the initiative in 2006, the provincial force has completed nearly 23,600 investigations and laid 8,750 charges against more than 2,600 people.

More than 500 child victims have been rescued in Ontario since the program began, police said.

At Thursday's news conference, police displayed an animated map depicting more than 7,000 individual Internet Protocol addresses over a period of 180 days that had been identified as download candidates for suspected child pornography.

"The Provincial Strategy demonstrates the success that police services can achieve when working together and sharing our best practices and information," said Bell.

With files from the Canadian Press