Two Ottawa men swept up in global child porn investigation

Pair were among 16 Canadians charged

Two Ottawa men were charged and convicted in a four-year-old international investigation that’s included officers in Toronto coming across an online live-stream of a six year old being sexually abused.

Ottawa police acting Insp. François D’Aoust said Thursday that the local internet child exploitation unit arrested Michael Longbone and Luc Berthelot as part of Project Mercury. Police arrested Berthelot in February 2016 and Longbone in March 2016.

The pair were among 16 Canadians charged and both have since been convicted, D’Aoust said.

Longbone, 35, was convicted of making available child pornography, possession of child pornography, making child pornography and accessing child exploitation material, D’Aoust said.

Berthelot, 38, was convicted of accessing child pornography, possession of child pornography, making written child exploitation material, assaulting police and drug possession.

Project Mercury began in 2014 when the U.K.’s National Crime Agency discovered an online group that it alleged was involved in the sexual abuse of children. It shared information about offenders and their locations with other forces, including Toronto’s child exploitation section.

Law enforcement agencies around the world will continue their efforts as more offenders are identified.

In 2015, officers in Toronto witnessed the live-stream abuse of a six year old. The child was rescued and 20 offenders were arrested. In 2016, officers found sexual material involving an eight-year-old child and “advertisements for the sexual abuse” of the child, who was subsequently rescued and an offender arrested in Saskatoon.

Among the Canadians charged was Kenneth Bowman, 34, of Saskatoon who has been convicted of charges including sexual assault, administering a noxious thing and making an arrangement to commit a sexual offence against a child along with making child pornography.

There have been a total of 153 arrests since 2014 in the investigation, Toronto police said. It has involved police in eight Canadian cities — Ottawa among them — 23 U.S. states and half-a-dozen European countries.

“Law enforcement agencies around the world will continue their efforts as more offenders are identified with every arrest and with every child rescued,” the Toronto force said.