Forty-eight men were arrested in France on Tuesday 15 November and Wednesday 16 November 2022. They are suspected of downloading and/or sharing child sexual abuse content. Among them, according to information from France Bleu Normandie, is a 47-year-old man residing in the region, arrested for possessing 700 suspicious files on his computer.
A Norman, alive probably in or around Caen – according to information from France Bleu Normandie this Thursday – is among the suspects arrested between Tuesday November 15 and Wednesday November 16, 2022. He would be a craftsman from the region and would be 47 years old. He is part of 48 men arrested for downloading and/or sharing child pornography. This “everyman” had 700 downloads of child pornography files for five years on his computer.
According to information from our colleagues at Radio France, the man admits to having downloaded these files, but “by accident” according to him. While in police custody, he assured police that he was downloading other files that child sexual abuse images appeared on his computer. The Forties was released this Thursday 18 November in the morning. The detectives keep his computer to continue the investigation and the prosecution will then decide on the prosecution to start.
This vast dragnet of the judicial police, unveiled on Wednesday night by Information about France, allowed the arrest of suspects in several departments of the metropolis. The operation was led by the Central Office for the Suppression of Violence against Persons (OCRVP). Those arrested were identified thanks to the monitoring and surveillance work carried out by the authorities throughout the year to identify significant flows of child sexual abuse content, particularly on the dark web.
Authorities blame every suspect for having it massively download and/or record and/or share images, videos, of a child pornography nature. Some content is “particularly violent”, specifies a source close to the investigation to Franceinfo. Police are also trying to find out if any of these men were able to take action. They could then be targeted for paedo crime prosecution.
All those arrested are men, mostly in their forties. The youngest is 26 years old, the oldest 79 years old. All social categories are involved: elected officials as in Côte-d’Or, workers, artisans as in Calvados, managers, but also pensioners as in Puy-de-Dôme.
Among the suspects there are also people in contact with children: national education officials, child care workers, and foster families.
According to the website legifrance.gouv.fr, the fact, with a view to its diffusion, of fixing, recording or transmitting the image or representation of a minor when such image or such representation has a pornographic nature is punished with five years’ imprisonment and a fine of 75,000 euros.
