Perth man one of three men charged in Kingston child exploitation investigation

A Perth man is among three people charged in a child exploitation investigation led by the OPP and Kingston Police.

The three people arrested have been charged with 10 criminal offences during a joint proactive investigation.

Police said that the investigation, named Project Clovelly, focused on identifying persons actively luring children on social media for sexual purposes. 

Six trained police investigators from the OPP and Kingston Police utilized undercover techniques to access online chatrooms and social media applications designed for children in order to identify, locate and arrest people looking to sexually exploit children in the Kingston area. 

The investigation took place over four days from September 20 to 23, 2021. As a result, 35-year-old Scott Davis of Perth was charged with:

• Internet luring;
• Making sexually explicit material available to a person under 16; 
• Indecent exposure to a person under 16. 

According to police, two of the individuals were arrested when they showed up to a pre-set location to meet a child for sexual purposes. 

The third individual was arrested on February 1 after a variety of techniques was used to identify the accused. 

One of the suspects travelled from Toronto to Kingston and rented a hotel room in order to sexually abuse a child. 

All three accused range in age from 31-years-old  to 40-years-old. 

The OPP and Kingston Police and Ontario’s Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet police partners have noted a “significant increase” in the number of calls for service that has forced investigators to reactively respond to child sexual exploitation investigations.

“Every day, appalling actions are taken by predators against the most vulnerable in our society: our children, ” OPP Commissioner Thomas Carrique said. “Ontario’s Internet Child Exploitation units work tirelessly to address and prevent this crime from occurring. Proactive investigations, such as the OPP and Kingston police’s Project Clovelly, are vital in intercepting predators who prey on children and expose their crime in an effort to ensure they never harm children again.”

The second accused is 31-year-old, Andrew David Lee Whan from Verona, who is charged with internet luring, attempting to make child pornography and attempting sexual interference.

The third man is 40-year-old Sala Hassanpour from Toronto, who is charged with internet luring and transmitting sexually explicit material to a child under 16.