Police have arrested 22 people and laid 73 charges after what they are calling the largest co-ordinated child pornography sweep in the history of Ontario.

A woman, a youth and 20 men were arrested Monday and four other arrests were pending Tuesday after an investigation that began in January and culminated with the execution of 25 search warrants in 16 communities, Ontario Provincial Police said at a news conference in Toronto Tuesday.

'Every image of ... child pornography represents the irrefutable evidence of a child being brutalized,' OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino said Tuesday in Toronto.
(CBC)

The accused, who include people from London, Ottawa, Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie and other communities spread across the province, were mainly charged with possession of child pornography and making available child pornography. But some counts also included child pornography distribution and child luring charges, as well as drug and weapons charges.

"Every image of ... child pornography represents the irrefutable evidence of a child being brutalized," said OPP Commissioner Julian Fantino, who also said the arrests marked "a great day for children and communities right across the province."

The investigation, which is ongoing, was conducted under the Provincial Strategy to Protect Children from Sexual Abuse and Exploitation on the Internet, which includes the OPP and 18 local police forces.

Det. Staff Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt said 14 of those forces were involved in this week's sweep.

The youngest of those arrested was a youth from Hamilton who cannot be named under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and was charged with one count of possession of child pornography. The oldest was a 64-year-old man from Cambridge, charged with one count of making available child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

The only woman arrested was a 28-year-old from Whitby, who is charged with one count of making available child pornography and one count of possession of child pornography.

One 29-year-old man from Toronto was charged with luring a person under 14, one count of invitation to sexual touching and one count of exposure in addition to child pornography charges.

The remaining accused included two men from Ottawa, two from Guelph, and one man from each of Peterborough, Oshawa, Mississauga, Espanola, Brampton, Cornwall, Sault Ste. Marie, London, Red Lake, Burlington, Milton, Brantford, Hamilton and Toronto.

Fantino said that in the past nine months, a total of 588 charges have been laid under the child pornography strategy, which was launched in 2006.