WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual exploitation or know someone affected.<\/p>\n
A Canadian man has been sentenced in the United States to more than 30 years in prison for what American officials described as a widespread, yearslong sextortion scheme targeting more than 100 children across the country.<\/p>\n
A statement on Wednesday said Ramanan Pathmanathan, 40, was sentenced in U.S. District Court to 33 years behind bars after pleading guilty to two separate charges earlier this year.<\/p>\n
“This defendant spent years methodically hunting children online. He\u00a0targeted\u00a0more than 145 victims, some as young as six, and subjected\u00a0them to horrors no child should ever experience,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro wrote in the statement.<\/p>\n
Investigators said Pathmanathan, who is from Toronto, primarily used Instagram and Facebook accounts to contact young girls and boys online. He pretended to be a teenage boy from New Jersey online for seven years, the statement said.<\/p>\n
After establishing contact, Pathmanathan “demanded the minor victims engage in sexually explicit conduct while they\u00a0participated\u00a0in video chats with him. He directed them to expose their genitals, and to engage in sexual acts with dogs, siblings and other relatives,” the statement said.<\/p>\n
“In\u00a0almost all\u00a0the video chats\u00a0with his minor victims,\u00a0Pathmanathan\u00a0sent\u00a0the children\u00a0images of adults engaged in sexual acts to show them\u00a0how to do what he\u00a0was\u00a0requesting.”<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said Pathmanathan\u00a0recorded his victims’ sexually explicit conduct and saved the files to his computer. When victims blocked Pathmanathan or declined to co-operate, the man threatened to send images to the children’s friends or family.<\/p>\n