Project Spade: 348 People Arrested in International Child Porn Ring Bust …386 Children Have Been Rescued

PROJECT SPADE BUSTS INTERNATIONAL CHILD PORN RING …

One of the largest commercial child pornography ring ever has been uncovered and busted in Canada. At last count, 348 people have been arrested in “Project Spade” (VIDEO) from over 50 countries and a reported 386 children have been rescued. As reported at Inside Toronto, police traced the internet connection to a Toronto man who was running an “exploitation” movie production and distribution company. “This company operated a website known as www.azovfilms.com where customers from around the world could place orders to have movies sent to them through the mail or through the internet.  At the center of the child porn ring is 42 year old  Brian Way.  This low life, oh alleged low life, faces 24 charges of making, possessing, distributing, exporting and selling the explicit images of boys, ranging in ages from toddlers to teens.

In all because of the Project Spade investigation, 108 Canadians have been arrested, 50 in Ontario, of whom at least 20 have so far pleaded guilty to various charges. Another 76 Americans face charges. Internationally, another 164 are before the courts and many more are still under investigation.

They have also laid a charge of instructing a criminal organization, the first time this has been done in relation to a child pornography investigation. It is a charge more usually associated with gangs or organized crime.

“This case has really challenged people to reconsider what nudism and child modelling are,” said Toronto police Detective-Constable Lisa Belanger, who led the investigation. “It’s caused countries around the world to look at this material and ask whether it’s OK for doctors, teachers, daycare providers and hockey coaches to be buying this kind of material. Countries from South Africa to Australia, Isle of Man to Hong Kong and Spain have all said it’s not OK. I think it’s going to have ripple effects everywhere.”

CNN:

A three-year investigation into an exploitative Toronto-based film company has netted nearly 350 arrests and rescued more than 380 children from sexual abuse, police said Thursday.

Law enforcement from all over the world, primarily in Eastern Europe and the United States, worked with Toronto police since 2010 to arrest those who produced child pornography and those who purchased it.

The owner of the film company, Brian Way, has been in jail since 2011 awaiting trial, and the producers who made the illegal films have been convicted in their home countries, Toronto police Inspector Joanna Beaven-Desjardins said.

The investigation is ongoing and more arrests will be made, but authorities decided it was time to share with the public the scope of its operation, known as Project Spade.

Among the 348 people arrested in the international child sex abuse investigation were 40 teachers, six law enforcement personnel, nine pastors or priests and some doctors and nurses, Beaven-Desjardins said.

Throughout the investigation, 386 children have been rescued, she said, referring to their removal from situations where they were being abused.

UPDATE I: David Scott Engle, from Lake Lucerne, Washington, is believed to be the first US child sex offender officially identified as someone caught by investigators from Project Spade.

A youth baseball coach was exposed as a prolific pedophile in one of the world’s biggest ever child porn busts, it can be revealed today.

David Scott Engle is believed to be the first American child sex offender officially identified as someone caught by investigators from Project Spade.

Last month MailOnline reported Engle, a divorce lawyer from Lake Lucerne in Washington, was sentenced to 25 years in prison after amassing thousands of child pornography images.

The 50-year-old will now stand trial on child rape charges after investigators found dozens of videos of him allegedly carrying out sickening sexual assaults on two boys.

UPDATE II: CTV – Two London men charged in Project Spade pornography investigation have court dates within a month.

David Rock, 52, charged with two counts of possessing child pornography and one count of accessing it, has a court date of Dec. 13 for a preliminary hearing.

William Allard, 38, has a court date of Nov. 29.

Anthony Ryckman, 42, pleaded guilty to one count each of possessing, making and accessing child pornography, and two counts of voyeurism.

Ryckman was sentenced to 23 months in jail and three years of probation. He has been ordered not to associate with anyone under 16 and given a DNA order and forfeiture order.

Ryckman will also be on the sex offender registry for life.