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| Two children freed in child porn sweep |
| Sexuality |
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Perhaps the one bright spot amid the horrific details surrounding the largest child pornography bust in Ontario’s history earlier this month was the rescue of two children, the Toronto Star reported. The four-year-old boy and 12-year-old girl were found by police in homes where they had been abused and photographed. Authorities are well aware that there are likely many more children who are still being held captive by sexual predators.“For those children waiting to be rescued, we are looking for you,” said Ontario Provincial Police Inspector Andrew Stewart at a Toronto news conference. Raids across Ontario by officers from 18 police forces on February 4 resulted in the arrest of 31 males, including three minors. Between them, they face 93 charges. These include sexual assault, sexual interference, and the making, making available, distribution and possession of child pornography, according to an Ontario Provincial Police news release. OPP Staff Sergeant Frank Goldschmidt is not surprised that young people are among those arrested, the National Post reported. “We often are asked if the people who commit these acts have greasy hair and wear raincoats, but those images are from the movies,” he said. “These people actually come from all walks of life.” Nor, as the Globe and Mail reported, is Goldschmidt surprised that at least two of those arrested have prior convictions for possessing or distributing child pornography. “We arrest them one year, and five, six years later we get them again,” he said. “And the repeat offenders I find are worse,” he added, because they target and abuse younger children and possess more sexually explicit and violent materials. Toronto Police Service Detective Paul Krawczyk also said that the deterrence effect of being arrested and charged is often neutralized by the transparency of the prosecution process. “[The accused] go through court and they get full disclosure, so they learn exactly how we caught them the first time,” he said. In announcing the arrests, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino promised that the province’s police forces “will stop at nothing to hunt down child predators and eliminate the threat they pose to our children and our communities.” Additional charges are expected to be laid as the investigations continue. |
