U.S. authorities have defended their online portrayal of Ontario as a haven for child-sex tourism, saying the ploy helped them catch four predators.

A controversial website set up by the Department of Homeland Security promoted the bogus firm Precious Treasure Holiday Co., which promised to arrange illegal encounters in Ontario for pedophiles.

A pamphlet that came with the website offered one night hotel accommodations in Canada and travel under the guise of “boyfriend and girlfriend going to gamble at casino.”

U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Part of the pamphet used by Homeland Security

The pamphlet said transportation to Cleveland, meals and “condoms, lube, etc. . . ” were not included in the travel package.

But it was the use of Canada as a safe haven for sex tourism that raised questions about how the country was portrayed in the sting.

“Canada made for a more plausible scenario,” Brian Moskowitz, the special agent in charge of the investigation, told Postmedia News shortly after the indictments were announced.

“It was never our intent to take anyone to Canada and no children were involved. It was merely part of a scenario that we built.”

He said that Canada wasn’t used in the scenario over any perceived weaknesses or legal vulnerability.

Canadian authorities, such as those in Windsor, across the river from the Detroit offices of Homeland Security where Moskowitz is based, are alerted whenever such a sting is underway to prevent them from wasting resources on chasing the American operation, he said.

Homeland Security first set up the website in 2009. It remained online in several reincarnations until it was finally outed in March as a government sting by The Smoking Gun website.

“Sex tourism is a scourge and must be combated with every available resource,” Moskowitz said in a release when the convictions were announced in early September.

“These cases show international borders are no longer a hindrance for predators.”

The two German men convicted in the sting paid up to $1,600 to have sex with girls and boys between the ages of 10 and 13. One, a 49-year-old doctor from Stuttgart, was allegedly found with lingerie, sex toys, bondage ropes, straps, a mask, lubricant, 17 condoms as well as four stuffed unicorns and a paint-by-number set, Homeland Security said.

Two Ohio men also pleaded guilty to sex trafficking offences and possession of child pornography as a result of the sting. In one case, a 38-year-old man tried to organize a sexual encounter with an eight-year-old girl. In the other case, a 25-year-old man wasn’t legally allowed to enter Canada because he was on parole for a molestation conviction, Homeland Security said.

U.S. authorities say their online portrayal of Ontario as a haven for child-sex tourism helped them catch four predators.

The controversial website set up by the Department of Homeland Security was for the bogus firm Precious Treasure Holiday Co., which promised to arrange illegal encounters in Ontario for pedophiles.

The 19-month-long undercover operation yielded more than 140,000 hits and led to four arrests and convictions, but it has come under criticism on this side of the border because of how Ontario was depicted.

Brian Moskowitz, the U.S. special agent in charge of Homeland Security Investigations for Michigan and Ohio, defends the portrayal, saying it was created to strengthen the sting scenario.

Canada used for ‘mystique’

“Canada wasn’t picked because it’s perceived to be less risky, or this would be permitted in Canada,” he said. “It was just to add to the mystique of the scenario.”

Moskowitz noted that the Precious Treasure website used symbols and coded language known in child-sex circles to draw in predators. The aim was to nab pedophiles seeking arranged trips to Canada from Cleveland, Ohio, for the purpose of molesting children.

To avoid the possibility of entrapment and to prevent visitors from stumbling on explicit photos or offers to provide children, a user could only access such content after repeated emails to the undercover agents, Moskowitz explained.

“No one could stumble into this and accidentally get ensnared,” Moskowitz said. “You had to proactively ask, in accordance with our laws.”

Windsor removed from website

Windsor police were among those in Canada who were alerted to the ruse so they wouldn’t waste resources chasing a phantom website.

Even so, Jerome Brannagan, deputy chief of operations with the Windsor police, said he was uncomfortable enough with the website to request that U.S. agents remove references to Windsor. Other Canadian references remained.

“We understand the basis for why they chose to do it that way,” Brannagan said. “However, that was some concern of ours because we’re certainly not trying to attempt to suggest Canada is the place to come to for that type of criminal behaviour.”

The fake website was outed by The Smoking Gun as a government sting, but investigators had already gathered enough evidence to convict four men.

One has already been sentenced to 20 years in federal prison for attempting to travel to engage in illicit sexual conduct with an eight-year-old girl and for the attempted receipt and distribution of child pornography.

Three other men will be sentenced later this month.