Young victims of online sexual exploitation IDed, say RCMP
New Brunswick RCMP's Internet Child Exploitation unit has identified a number of alleged victims of a Moncton man, who may have sexually exploited as many as 2,000 boys around the world by posing online as a teenaged girl since at least 2012.
Police had released a video on YouTube in May, encouraging victims to come forward.
Since then, investigators have confirmed the identities of victims in Scotland, England, the United Kingdom, the United States, and in southern Ontario and are working with law enforcement agencies from those areas, Const. Jullie Rogers-Marsh said in a statement on Monday.
RCMP hope to identify as many of the alleged victims as possible and are asking the public to continue sharing the video, which has been viewed more than 50,0000 times to date, said Rogers-Marsh.
Several tips have been received, she said.
RCMP say the 24-year-old man would contact boys online using what appeared to be a live video of a teenaged girl and convinced the boys to undress and initiate sex acts, which were then taped and distributed over the internet.
Police believe the alleged victims are as young as 10 and some of them may not even be aware they have been victimized.
The accused, who has been remanded in custody, is facing several charges, including making child pornography, possessing child pornography, making available child pornography, touching a person under the age of 14 for sexual purposes, and sexual assault.
His identity cannot be revealed because of a court-ordered publication ban related to the video he allegedly used to trick boys into online sex acts.
The website Omegle.com, which doesn't require a username, was one site that was used frequently.
Known user names and email accounts of the man include:
- Skype: Veronika.Maylae
- Vichatter: Veronika69
- Facebook account: Vero May (www.facebook.com/vero.may.3950)
- Email addresses: boiyavi@hotmail.com, revolboy@hotmail.com, tigerjack@hotmail.com
The RCMP investigation began in the fall of 2014 as the result of information the York Regional Police uncovered during an investigation.
Anyone with information about the case is asked to contact their local police or to report their information anonymously through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).
