10 Charges Laid in Four-Day Investigation
(Kingston, ON) – Three people have been charged with 10 criminal offences during a joint proactive investigation between the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) Child Sexual Exploitation Unit a nd 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 chatrooms 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:
Two individuals were arrested when they showed up to a pre-set location to meet a child for sexual purposes.
The third individual was arrested on February 1, 2022, after a variety of techniques were employed to identify the accused.
One of the suspects traveled from Toronto to Kingston and rented a hotel room in order to sexually abuse a child.
The accused range in age from 31 to 40.
Andrew David Lee
WHAN 31 Verona, ON
• Internet luring contrary to Section 172.1(1)(b) x2
• Attempt to make child pornography contrary to Section
163.1(2) of the Criminal Code
• Attempted sexual interference contrary to Section 151
of the Criminal Code
Salah HASSANPOUR 40 Toronto, ON
• Internet luring contrary to Section 172.1(1)(b) x2 of the
Criminal Code
• Transmitting sexually explicit material to a child under 16
contrary to Section 171.1(1)(b) of the Criminal Code
Scott DAVIS 35 Perth, ON
• Internet luring contrary to Section 172.1(1)(b) of the
Criminal Code
• Making sexually explicit material available to a person
under 16 contrary to Section 171.1(1)(b) of the Criminal
Code
• Indecent exposure to a person under 16 contrary to
Section 173(2) of the Criminal Code
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 luring 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 th eir 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.
Author: Pete Fisher
Has been a photojournalist for over 30-years and have been honoured to win numerous awards for photography and writing over the years. Best selling author for the book Highway of Heroes - True Patriot Love
