Ontario police charge 31 in child porn bust

14-Year-Old A Suspect

National Post 

Published: Friday, 06 February 2009

Craig Offman,

Calling it the largest child porn bust in Ontario history, provincial police yesterday announced that they have pressed 93 charges against 31 suspects, a sweeping effort that also rescued two victims, one of them a four-year-old boy.

Charges laid by the OPP include sexual assault, sexual interference and possessing, making and distributing child pornography.

A complicated, province-wide investigation that involved 18 local police services, the dragnet nabbed culprits as young as 14 and 18 years of age.

The demographic defies a stereotype that adult males are typically the worst offenders of child molestation.

At a news conference yesterday, OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino reinforced that notion, saying that he was surprised alleged child abusers could be so young. Experts, however, are not taken aback.

It is widely believed that such tendencies are innate at a young age, and that the Internet, an essential platform for the crime, has revealed the age range of the perpetrators."

It doesn't surprise us that young people are involved," said OPP Staff-Sergeant Frank Goldsmith, who headed the investigation. "We often are asked if the people who commit these acts have greasy hair and wear raincoats, but those images are from the movies. These people actually come from all walks of life."

A paper released by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) two years ago bolstered the argument that pedophiles cannot be categorized by age or experience. Instead, it found that they are hard-wired to commit such crimes, adding that the deviant behaviour is explained by the result of faulty connections in the brain.

Conducted by CAMH psychologist James Cantor, the study of 127 pedophiles and non-offenders challenged the common perception that pedophilia is caused by either childhood trauma or abuse, asserting that perpetrators had less "white matter," which is responsible for wiring the different parts of the brain together.

It also found that pedophiles have lower IQs and even tend to be physically shorter than non-pedophiles.

The study, published in the Journal of Psychiatry Research, cautioned however that there was nothing in its research that suggested that pedophiles shouldn't be held criminally responsible for their actions.

Still, authorities find that the Internet has become a culprit's critical tool for creating and disseminating pornographic material, and observers such as criminologist and psychologist Michael Seto say that it is youth who are more likely to turn to their computers for various forms of pornography."

People on average under 35 are more familiar with the technology than those who are over 35, and the arrests reflect that," noted Mr. Seto, the author of Pedophilia and Sexual Offending Against Children.

Fortuitously for law enforcement officials, the younger offenders are more likely to mistakenly think that they are protected by anonymity, added Mr. Seto.

He also said that they tend to be more impulsive than their older counterparts, and therefore more sloppy about incriminating online behaviour.

Former child-exploitation investigator Paul Gillespie said that this development has changed the way the crime is policed. "With very limited police resources in this area, you must prioritize who you're going to go after," said Mr. Gillespie, the chief executive of the Kids' Internet Safety Alliance.

"You'd be going after the typical offender -- the older male with access to children. But now that technology has sped up the process, it has revealed that younger people are involved in this as well. I don't know if it's new or not, but I don't think it's something that people paid as much attention to as before."c

offman@nationalpost.com 

Porn bust nets 3 locals 

Boy, 4, rescued from home as provincewide child porn investigation rounds up 31 men

Ottawa Sun

06 February 2009

By BETH JOHNSTON AND AEDAN HELMER, SUN MEDIA

A four-year-old boy was rescued from an Ottawa home Wednesday as part of a massive, provincewide child pornography bust.

Police said the boy is a potential victim of sexual abuse and sexual exploitation, and has been placed in protective custody. The child's 53-year-old father faces charges of possessing, distributing and making child pornography. Police withheld the man's name to protect the child's identity.

"The child was taken for protection because the investigators did have certain evidence that could lead to further charges," Ottawa police Staff Sgt. Monique Perras said.

Two other Ottawa men were arrested -- one a Dungeons & Dragons-playing call centre employee, the other a world-travelling geography scholar -- in the largest co-ordinated child pornography investigation in Ontario history.

Police executed 33 search warrants, netting 93 charges against 31 men. Five search warrants were executed in Ottawa -- three homes and two workplaces.

A 12-year-old Burlington girl was also rescued.

PHD CANDIDATE

Nathan Engler, 33, a researcher at the International Development Research Centre and PhD candidate in geography at Carleton University is charged with possessing and distributing child pornography.

Police raided Engler's IDRC offices Wednesday, his lawyer Bruce Engel said. Engler was let go from his job yesterday.

"I'm totally shocked by this," Engler's ball hockey teammate Chris Wise said last night.

"He and his wife are a very upscale, intellectual pair." Wise had admired Engler's mask collection during an after-hockey barbecue the couple hosted at their Argyle St. condo last summer. "It was obvious they'd been all over the world, there were tons of books," Wise said.

At Waterloo University, Engler wrote his master's thesis on how absenteeism affects the education of Peruvian primary school students. He met his wife at Waterloo. The couple have been planning to start a family, Wise said. They also ran a half-marathon together in May 2008.

Adam Rizewiski, 27, a Star Trek fan and former Sitel employee, is charged with possessing and making available child pornography.

A former Sitel colleague who worked with him in customer service remembered Rizewiski as a quiet and unassuming guy.

Rizewiski rents an apartment in Ottawa and likes to play Dungeons & Dragons, watch The X-Files and Star Trek: The Next Generation.

In one of the arrests, police found more than 20,000 sexually explicit images of children -- some just babies -- on a computer.

"You can run, but you can't hide," OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino told predators during a press conference yesterday.

The arrests are a result of better equipment, co-ordination and consistent training for police officers, Fantino said.

This bust just scratches the surface of the "widespread" problem of child pornography, Perras said.

Police want to send a chill over the Internet, creating fear among predators swapping the material.

"We're there to protect people, and what is so wonderful for us, at least there are two kids here that we'll make sure will be okay," Perras said. "(The Internet exchange of child pornography) is child sexual abuse, nothing more, nothing less, it's not a victimless crime.

"It's sexual abuse on children, and they're getting younger and younger." All three Ottawa men will appear in court today.

The typical penalty, if convicted, ranges from two to five years in prison, Perras said. In the United States, sentences are typically 20-25 years.

Police say the investigations are ongoing.

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ARRESTED IN OTTAWA

- Nathan Engler, 33, of Ottawa. Charged with one count of possession of child pornography, one count of distributing child pornography.

- Adam Rizewiski, 27, of Ottawa. Charged with one count of possession of child pornography, one count of making available child pornography, one count of possession of contraband cigarettes.

- Unknown male, 53, of Ottawa. Charged with two counts of possession of child pornography, two counts of distributing child pornography, and one count of making child pornography. Name withheld to protect the victim's identity.  

Four-year-old Ottawa child removed from home in massive porn bust 

The Ottawa Citizen  05 February 2009 

By Brendan Kennedy,

Nineteen different Ontario police organizations worked in the "largest co-ordinated effort of its kind" to crack down on Internet child abuse, Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sgt. Frank Goldsmith said at a new conference in Toronto.

OTTAWA — A four-year-old boy police say is a victim of child pornography was removed from an Ottawa home Wednesday after what police are calling the largest child-pornography investigation in Ontario’s history.

The boy’s 53-year-old father, whose name was withheld to protect his son’s identity, was charged with making, distributing and possessing child pornography.

Two other Ottawa men and one Kingston man were charged in the province-wide bust in which 31 people, including four youths who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, were arrested on various child pornography charges. Ninety-three charges were laid in total.

A second child victim, a 12-year-old girl, was rescued from a Burlington home.

The other Ottawa men arrested in the bust are 33-year-old Nathan Engler, who was charged with one count each of possessing and distributing child pornography, and 27-year-old Adam Rizewiski, who was charged with one count each of possessing and making available child pornography, and one count of possession of contraband cigarettes.

Mr. Engler and Mr. Rizewiski appeared in Ottawa court on Tuesday.

In a massive province-wide child pornography sweep, Ontario police announced Thursday they have arrested 31 people, including four youths, and charged them with 93 offences.

Ontario Provincial Police Staff Sgt. Frank Goldsmith said at a new conference in Toronto that the charges include offences such as sexual assault, sexual interference, and making, distributing and possessing child pornography.

Nineteen Ontario police organizations worked in the "largest co-ordinated effort of its kind" to crack down on Internet child abuse, Goldsmith said.

Ontario Police Commissioner Julian Fantino said: "Today is a great day for children across the province. These are real children, these are real crimes and these are real victims."

He added that thanks to better equipment and training, investigators have been able to arrest alleged perpetrators of what he called appalling and unconscionable sex acts against children, some as young as infants.

"The provincial strategy will stop at nothing to hunt down child predators and eliminate the threat they pose to children and our communities," he said.

"As I said last year, you can run but you can't hide."

A little more than a year ago, police held a similar news conference to announce that an international investigation into an Internet-based child pornography ring had turned up 98 suspects in Canada.

More than 150 explicit videos of underaged girls were uncovered. In the videos, the girls were paid a small fee to engage in explicit sexual acts of a grotesque nature, said police.

Charged in the latest sweep are:

- Nathan Engler, 33, of Ottawa.

- Adam Rizewiski, 27, of Ottawa.

- A 53-year-old Ottawa man.

- John David Burnes, 20, of Kingston.

- John Norman Sled, 60, of Hamilton.

- Terence Blatchley, 44, of Niagara Falls.

- Scott Ersman, 18, of Welland.

- Michael Sproule, 36, of Mississauga.

- One young person from Mississauga who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

- Chad Groves, 24, of Richmond Hill.

- Alex Fiaoni, 33, of Woodbridge.

- Dane Raymond Wilson, 40, of Elmira.

- A Sudbury man and, at the same location, one young person, who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act.

- A 53-year-old Burlington man.

- Nicola Ierullo, 46, of London.

- Michael DiMatteo, 18, of London.

- Christopher Clausen, 37, of London.

- Kevin Nisbet, 42, of London.

- Paul Freestone, 43, of Palmerston.

- Martin Rowe, 42, of Matheson.

- One young person from Oshawawho cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act

- Kevin Kuzmich, 34, of Thunder Bay.

- Perry Maeckler, 47, of Windsor.

- One young person from Windsor who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act

- Colin Mitchell, 52, of Brantford .

- Mark CARON, 38, of Wasaga Beach.

- Vladimir Tchemissov, 52, of North York.

- Alessandro Vece, 40, of North York.

- Karl James, 57, of Guelph.

- Matthew Bates, 23, of Guelph.

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