Two Edmonton teenagers, whose identities are protected, may be responsible for preventing thousands of other young women around the world from being victimized.
The teens, aged 13 and 15, are being called heroines in a child-porn bust that saw a Kingston, Ont., man arrested in connection with an online blackmail scam allegedly targeting more than 100 girls in North America and Europe.
Mark Gary Bedford, 21, is charged with two counts of luring a child, two counts each of possession and distribution of child pornography and three counts of child pornography. Additional charges are pending as police in Ontario, Alberta and England contact and identify more alleged victims.
"It comes back to the victims and what they're going through. We had two very young girls who had been victimized," said Det. Kevin Fald, a member of Alberta's Integrated Child Exploitation unit, a specialized program announced by Alberta last year that draws on the resources of police forces across the province.
"They are terrified to come forward and tell their parents. Life as they know it is pretty much over and they don't want to talk about it with police. It must have been terrifying for them. But they did it anyway ...Without victims coming forward to us, we have nothing."
Last summer, the girls told police officers they were using chat rooms to communicate with friends when they were dared to flash or expose themselves in front of their web cameras. The images captured were supposed to be a prank between friends.
That message was followed by threats the image would be shared with the girls' parents, friends and posted on the Internet for general distribution unless the girls participated in more explicit, fully nude sexual activity in front of the web cameras.
Police allege the suspect, who lived with his parents and surfed the Internet from his bedroom, had been hacking into chat accounts since September of last year. In some cases he allegedly assumed the identity of the account holder and asked the girl's friends to take off their clothes. In other cases, he would pose as a young man - using online aliases like Marco1812000 or Supalover666 - and befriend them.
Law enforcement agencies in Ontario, Edmonton and Kent, England, were part of an eight-month investigation that has revealed victims in Canada and the United Kingdom.
Police in Kent, England, received their first complaint from a parent in April. After that it just "snowballed," said Insp. Stephen Evans. There are now 42 known victims.
Kent police were able to track the offender's IP address, which can give the general geographic location of an Internet connection, to Kingston. Investigators learned of another existing investigation involving Edmonton police and a collaborative effort ensued. Four victims have been identified in Edmonton and another in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont. Police estimate more than 100 girls were targeted, including some in Kingston and Ottawa.
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