36 People Arrested

(ORILLIA, ON) - Thirty-six people have been arrested and charged with a combined total of 128 criminal offences during a proactive child sexual exploitation investigation.

Twenty-one police services from the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet (Provincial Internet Child Exploitation Strategy) took part in the luring investigation from March 31 to April 11, 2025. Investigators utilized undercover techniques to access online chatrooms and social media applications in order to identify, locate and arrest persons looking to sexually exploit children.

Project highlights include:

• All of the accused are male, with ages ranging from 18 to 73
• Although this was a luring investigation in which officers posed as children online and waited for offenders to make contact, nine real victims were identified. They have been provided support and are safe
• One of the accused arrived at the meeting location with snacks and one arrived with sexual paraphernalia (lubricant and condoms)
• One of the arrested was listed on the National Sex Offender Registry
• 51 ongoing investigations remain

The Provincial Internet Child Exploitation Strategy’s 26 participating police agencies include:

• Barrie Police Service
• Belleville Police Service
• Brantford Police Service
• Chatham-Kent Police Service
• Cornwall Police Service
• Durham Regional Police Service
• Greater Sudbury Police Service
• Guelph Police Service
• Halton Regional Police Service
• Hamilton Police Service
• Kingston Police
• London Police Service
• Niagara Regional Police Service
• North Bay Police Service
• Ontario Provincial Police
• Ottawa Police Service
• Peel Regional Police
• Peterborough Police Service
• Sault Ste. Marie Police Service
• Thunder Bay Police Service
• Timmins Police Service
• Toronto Police Service
• Waterloo Regional Police Service
• Windsor Police Service
• Woodstock Police Service
• York Regional Police

Anyone with any information related to child sexual exploitation, contact your local police or report it to cybertip.ca.