Barrie man among those caught in child luring investigation

​Posted June 5, 2025​

​​

A multi-jurisdictional online sting operation has resulted in 36 people charged, including a 55-year-old male from Barrie, with a combined total of 128 criminal offences of child sexual exploitation.

​

The Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet (Provincial Internet Child Exploitation Strategy) took part in the luring investigation from March 31 to April 11, 2025.

 

Investigators utilized undercover techniques to access online chatrooms and social media applications in order to identify, locate and arrest persons looking to sexually exploit children. 

 

Project highlights include:

• All of the accused are male, with ages ranging from 18 to 73.

• Although this was a luring investigation in which officers posed as children online and waited for offenders to make contact, nine real victims were identified. They have been provided support and are safe.

• One of the accused arrived at the meeting location with snacks and one arrived with sexual paraphernalia (lubricant and condoms)

• One of the arrested was listed on the National Sex Offender Registry.

• 51 ongoing investigations remain.

​

The Barrie suspect, who was not named, was charged with three counts luring a person under 16, and making sexually explicit material available to a child. His next court date is June 10 in Barrie.

​

Other accused were from Toronto, Vaughan, Niagara Falls, Chatham, Belleville, Mississauga, West Lincoln, Burlington, Londo, Hamilton, Pickering, Ottawa, Hensall, Ayton, St Catharines, Sudbury, Kitchener, Brampton, and Abottsford, BC.