A Durham police officer has been charged in connection to an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) child sexual exploitation investigation.
Northumberland OPP received a report regarding the alleged sexual exploitation of a young person on Oct. 21 and began an investigation.
Search warrants were then executed in Whitby and Ajax with the help of Durham police’s Digital Forensics Unit.
On Oct. 25, Tre-Jamal Hamad, 31, of Ajax was arrested and has been charged with the following offences:
- Possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material
- Making sexually explicit material available to a person under 18 years of age
- Making sexually explicit material available to a person under 16 years of age (two counts)
- Luring a person under 18 years of age by means of telecommunication
- Luring a person under 16 years of age by means of telecommunication (two counts)
- Indecent exposure to a person under 16 years of age
- Makes prints, publishes or possesses for the purpose of publication of any child sexual abuse and exploitation material
Durham police confirmed Hamad is a constable with the service and has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of the court proceedings.
In a statement, Durham police say they take the allegations against Constable Hamad very seriously, but cannot provide any further comment as the investigation was conducted by an external police service and the matter is now before the courts.
A publication ban is also in place so no further details have been released.
Hamad was held for a bail hearing and is scheduled to appear in court on Thursday.
OPP say investigators are urging anyone who may have had contact with the accused or experienced similar circumstances to contact police.
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