Three people have been charged with 10 criminal offences during a joint proactive investigation between the OPP Child Sexual Exploitation Unit and Kingston Police.
The child sexual exploitation investigation, named Project Clovelly, focused on identifying persons actively luring children on social media for sexual purposes.
Six trained police investigators from the OPP and Kingston Police utilized undercover techniques to access online chat rooms and social media applications designed for children in order to identify, locate and arrest persons looking to sexually exploit children in the Kingston area.
The investigation took place over four days, from September 20 to 23, 2021.
Project highlights include:
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Two individuals were arrested when they showed up to a pre-set location to meet a child for sexual purposes.
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The third individual was arrested on February 1, 2022, after a variety of techniques were employed to identify the accused.
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One of the suspects travelled from Toronto to Kingston and rented a hotel room in order to sexually abuse a child.
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The accused range in age from 31 to 40.
Andrew David Lee Whan, a 31-year-old male from Verona, Ontario was charged with:
- Internet luring x 2
- Attempt to make child pornography
- Attempted sexual interference
Salah Hassanpour, a 40-year-old male from Toronto, Ontario was charged with:
- Internet luring x 2
- Transmitting sexually explicit material to a child under 16
Scott Davis, a 35-year-old male from Perth, Ontario was charged with:
- Internet luring
- Making sexually explicit material available to a person under 16
- Indecent exposure to a person under 16
The OPP, Kingston police and Ontario’s Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet police partners have noted a significant increase in the number of calls for service that has forced investigators to reactively respond to child sexual exploitation investigations.
Experience demonstrates that offenders often target a multitude of victims at the same time.
Predators go where children go. Therefore, it is imperative that parents and caregivers are aware of what their children do online.
To learn how to keep children safe, go to Canadian Centre for Child Protection.
If you have information related to child sexual exploitation, contact your local police or report to cybertip.ca.
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