A Kingston man is among 31 people facing a combined 93 charges in a province-wide crackdown on child pornography.
Provincial police officers and investigators from 18 police departments, including Kingston, raided homes across Ontario on Wednesday with 33 search warrants.
Kingston officers raided two homes Wednesday, but they’ve only identified one suspect.
John David Burnes, 20, has been charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of making child pornography available. Det. Cost. Stephanie Morgan was unavailable for comment when ed by the Journal yesterday, but told the Whig-Standard on Feb. 6 that a computer was seized when Burnes was arrested and a computer was seized from another home. “Sometimes these cases rely on forensic examination of computers and equipment and in order to go to the next step and actually identify the person who is in possession of the child pornography, we have to forensically examine the computer,” she said.
Morgan told the Whig-Standard the province’s strategy to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation on the Internet has provided Kingston police with training specific to these types of investigations.
Morgan said police can also get help from other investigators who might have more knowledge in the field.
“I’m networked with the investigators doing similar investigations in Toronto, in Sudbury, in Brantford, all over the province,” she said. “We’re all linked and we can use each other as a resource at any time.” Possession of child pornography carries a minimum sentence of 45 days in custody and a maximum of five years in jail.
The investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.
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