Investigators with police forces across Ontario swept down on 16 communities Monday and arrested 22 people in what the Ontario Provincial Police has billed as the largest co-ordinated child pornography investigation in the province's history.
Another four arrests are pending, police announced at press conference Tuesday.
These are real children and these are real crimes, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said. Every image of child pornography represents the irrefutable evidence of a child being brutalized. And it's not just about impersonal, abstract images.
The investigation, which began in January, involved 18 municipal police services from across Ontario and the OPP.
"It is appropriate that we are here today, making this announcement on Safer Internet Day," Commissioner Fantino added. "It is a day recognized in 43 countries world-wide to highlight the need to make the Internet a safe and useful tool for our children to access for both educational and personal use."
Charged are:
Jay Hutchinson, 24, of Hamilton, with one count of making child pornography available and one count of possession
Doug MacDonald, 50, of Ottawa, with one count of possession of child pornography, one count of making it available
Edwin Morris, 63, of Burlington, with one count of possession, one count of accessing child pornography, one count of making it available
Michael E. Shipley, 31, of Milton: one count each of possession, accessing, and making it available
Thomas Webb, 56, of Brantford, one count each of possession, making it available
Wendy Allison Potter, 28, Whitby, Ont., one count each of possession, making it available
Harry James Aseltine, 57, of Oshawa, one count each of possession, making it available, possession of a controlled substance
Michael Cherry, 37, of London, four counts of possession, three counts of making it available
Nathan Armstrong, 27, of Peterborough, with two counts of possession, one count of making it available
Matthew McDougall, 20, of Red Lake, with two counts of possession, one count of making it available
Matthew Brunton, 22, of Cornwall, with one count each of possession and accessing
Guilio Carere, 46, of Guelph, with one count each of possession, making it available and possession of a controlled substance
Keith Kamenz, 29, of Guelph, with one count each of possession and making it available
Lawrence Bouillon, 44, of Espanola, with two counts of possession, one count of making it available, one count of possession of a controlled substance
Eric Brown, 25, of Brampton, with one count each of possession and making it available
Michael Avison, 33, of Mississauga, with one count each of possession, accessing and making it available
Stephen Burritt, 39, of Sault Ste. Marie, with one count each of possession, making it available, possession of child pornography for the purpose of distribution, five counts of unsafe storage of a firearm, one count of unsafe storage of ammunition, one count of knowingly possessing a prohibited firearm without authorization, and one count of possession of prohibited firearm.
Karl Herman, 64, of Cambridge, with one count of possession, one count of making it available
Glenn Albert Laurin, 45, of Toronto, with one count each of possession and making it available
Matthew Sankoff, 29, of Toronto, with two counts of luring under 14, one count of invitation to sexual touching, one count of exposure to a person under 14, one count each of possession and distribution of child pornography
Leonard Legros, 60, of Ottawa, with one count each of possession and making it available
A young offender from Hamilton who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act has also been charged with one count of possession