Vancouver Island man, 18, faces sex charges involving 15 children

An 18-year-old Central Saanich man is facing 29 charges relating to sexual touching, making and possessing child pornography, and extortion involving at least 15 children.

Seamus Martin Weeks was arrested at his Central Saanich home on June 29 for offences that allegedly occurred between November 2015 and June of this year.

More alleged victims beyond the 15 already interviewed by police have come forward since Weeks’ arrest, said Central Saanich police spokesman Cpl. Dan Cottingham.

“We believe there might be other victims out there,” he said.

The victims were from across the province, including Kamloops, where some of the alleged offences occurred. The ages of the victims were not released.

Weeks made a brief appearance in court Thursday.

His next court appearance is set for Dec. 1.

He is out on bail with several strict conditions including not to contact the alleged victims and to avoid accessing the Internet or social media platforms. Police would not say if he was using social media to lure victims.

Cottingham would not confirm if this was a case of webcam blackmail, a crime in which a person lures victims into taking their clothes off on camera and then threatens to release the video as a means of extortion.

The police department did not release information at the time of the arrest because of the sensitivity of the investigation, which is ongoing, Cottingham said.

The decision was “initially for protective reasons to the victims and their families,” he said.

Victims’ names are protected by a publication ban.

“This is something that we take very seriously, the allegations that were brought to us,” Cottingham said. “We’ve taken all the steps that we can take to get Mr. Weeks before the courts and protect further people being victimized.”

Central Saanich police are working with the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit in the investigation.

Weeks is charged with five counts of communicating with a person who was, or who Weeks believed was, under the age of 18 for the purpose of an offence; 16 counts of extortion; four counts relating to the making, accessing or pos- sessing child pornography; three counts of sexual touching involving a person under 16; and one count of uttering threats of death or bodily harm.

We’ve taken all the steps that we can ... to get Mr. Weeks before the courts and protect further people being victimized.