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WARNING: This article may affect those who have experienced sexual exploitation or know someone affected.
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.
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.
“This defendant spent years methodically hunting children online. He targeted more than 145 victims, some as young as six, and subjected them to horrors no child should ever experience,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro wrote in the statement.
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.
After establishing contact, Pathmanathan “demanded the minor victims engage in sexually explicit conduct while they participated in 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.
“In almost all the video chats with his minor victims, Pathmanathan sent the children images of adults engaged in sexual acts to show them how to do what he was requesting.”
Prosecutors said Pathmanathan recorded 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.
He pleaded guilty in January to one count of production of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.
Court documents said the investigation began when one victim’s mother contacted local police, who tracked Pathmanathan’s IP address to a Canadian home.
In a sentencing memorandum filed last week, Pirro said Pathmanathan targeted victims from a desktop computer he kept in his bedroom while living in the house with his brother and his parents.
Canadian authorities searched the home on March 10, 2021. Pirro said Pathmanathan sexually exploited his final victim earlier that day, saving a file about a 13-year-old girl at 5:09 a.m.
“The seriousness of the defendant’s conduct cannot be overstated,” Pirro wrote.
Pathmanathan was previously sentenced to 12 years in prison after pleading guilty to similar crimes in Canada in 2022. The new sentence from the U.S. will be served consecutively, meaning the 33-year term will begin after the previous 12 years are up.
The judge ordered Pathmanathan to serve 10 years of supervised release once he leaves prison. He will also be a registered sex offender.
Prosecutors had recommended a 40-year sentence, which would have amounted to more than three months in prison for each victim.
If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911. For support in your area, you can look for crisis lines and local services via the Ending Sexual Violence Association of Canada database.
