A 40-year-old Toronto man has been sentenced to 33 years in a United States federal prison for his involvement in a prolific sextortion scheme that targeted more than 100 American children. The conviction was announced Wednesday by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia after Ramanan Pathmanathan pleaded guilty in January to one count of production of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.
Details of the Scheme
According to court documents, Pathmanathan used multiple social media accounts, primarily on Instagram and Facebook Messenger, to contact dozens of boys and girls across the United States while posing as a teenage boy from New Jersey. Between March 2014 and March 2021, he contacted at least 145 children, demanding they engage in sexually explicit conduct during video chats, including exposing their genitals and engaging in sexual acts with dogs, siblings, and other relatives.
“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,” documents stated. He recorded the victims during these chats and saved the files on his computer. He then threatened to send the images to the victims' friends or family if they refused to continue interacting with him or blocked his social media accounts.
Legal Proceedings and Sentences
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said in a news release, “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.” Pathmanathan will serve his U.S. sentence consecutively to a 12-year sentence he is currently serving in Canada after pleading guilty to similar offences on Oct. 27, 2022. He was charged by Toronto Police in 2021 with dozens of offences including child luring, making child pornography, and extortion.
Pathmanathan will complete his sentence in Canada before being transferred to U.S. Marshals to serve his time in the United States. Chief Judge James Boasberg, who oversaw the U.S. case, also ordered a 10-year supervised release and required Pathmanathan to register as a sex offender after his U.S. sentence is served.
International Cooperation
Pirro emphasized the importance of international collaboration, stating, “The United States will not allow international borders to serve as a refuge for those who prey on children and I am grateful to our Canadian partners for ensuring this predator faced justice on both sides of the border.” She specifically thanked Toronto Police and the Ministry of the Attorney General for their assistance in the case.
The case highlights the ongoing efforts to combat online child exploitation and the critical role of cross-border cooperation in bringing offenders to justice.
