A Canadian man named Daniel Langdon is charged with 96 offences related to the sexual assault of children in-person and on social media including Instagram, and TikTok, police said on Wednesday. As per Reuters, the victims were aged between seven and 17.
The Canadian police in its statement stated that the 31-year-old man is facing charges including 39 counts of sexual assault, 39 counts of sexual interference and allegations of making child pornography.
Police trying to protect their identities, denied revealing how many children were targeted or any further details.
Vijay Shetty, a Toronto Police detective in a news conference told that Daniel in the year 2016 was charged with possessing and creating child pornography.
Authorities believe that Daniel was operating alone, used several email addresses and social media accounts, and even edited his photos to look younger.
The authorities started working on a child luring and sexual assault investigation last year which led to Daniel’s arrest in February.
After police searched his home, they recovered child sexual abuse material as well as evidence indicating that he sexually assaulted a seven-year-old kid in a nearby park.
Daniel appeared in court on Feb 08 and was remanded in custody. Currently, he is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
The investigation is underway as the authorities believe there are more online and in-person victims across Ontario.
According to media reports online sexual exploitation of children has soared especially after the COVID-19 pandemic as abusers take advantage of kids spending more time online.
(with inputs from agencies)
