Court records have shed light on a Lambton County resident swept up in a massive joint police force child exploitation probe.
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The OPP announced this week 64 people, including eight from Southwestern Ontariofacing nearly 350 charges linked to Project Aquatic, a provincewide crackdown on making, possessing and distributing child sexual abuse materials.
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Among them was an unnamed Lambton County man, 22, facing multiple counts including sexual assault on a person under 16, sexual interference, making child pornography and possessing child porn, police said.
The accused was released from custody and scheduled to appear in Sarnia court Wednesday, they added.
Court records show he was arrested March 18 and charged with making written child porn between Jan. 1 and 31, and possessing child porn on March 8. He was released the same day, with conditions banning him from being alone or communicating with anyone under 16, pending an April 15 court date.
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Days before April 15, he was arrested again and charged with five new counts: two counts each of sexual interference and sexual assault linked to complainants under 14 and 16, and an additional count of making child porn, records show. The charges relate to alleged offenses between January 2020 and February 2024, the documents say.
The identities of the complainants are protected by publication bans.
The accused was held for five days, then released on bail again pending Wednesday’s court date. All charges have since been adjourned to June 3.
Twenty-seven police forces – including those in Sarnia, Woodstock, Chatham-Kent, St. Thomas and London – assisted in 129 investigations between Feb. 19 and 29 that saw 348 charges laid, 34 complainants identified, 30 children safeguarded and 607 electronic devices seized, the OPP said.
With files from Dale Carruthers
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