Police from three provinces arrested nearly 50 individuals, 18 from Ontario, connected to a country-wide operation fighting the online sexual exploitation of children, including one man from Clarence-Rockland.  

On December 1 the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) and Quebec provincial police announced the results of a series of operations carried out in Ontario, Québec and New Brunswick leading to the arrests of 47 individuals, aged between 18 and 84, linked to child sexual exploitation materials (CSAM) between November 27 and November 30. 

The OPP arrested Francky Badier, 40, from Clarence-Rockland. Badier was charged with two counts of possession of child pornography and appeared in court in L’Orignal. 

OPP and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) cooperated through the OPP’s Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet (Provincial ICE Strategy) on the Ontario side. In addition to Clarence-Rockland, the OPP made arrests in Ottawa, Kingston, Belleville, Toronto, Burlington, Barrie, Greater Sudbury, Guelph, Kitchener, London, Windsor, Essex and Georgina. 

Police said there is no known link between those arrested. 

Any information regarding online child sexual exploitation should be reported to Cybertip.ca or the crime information hotline at 1-800-659-4264.