Additional charges filed against Whitby man in child porn investigation

A Whitby man first charged back in December 2020 has been charged with several additional offenses in joint child pornography investigation between Durham Regional Police and the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

DRPS was first alerted to the man by the Nation Child Exploitation Centre through illegal images uploaded to the instant messaging app Snapchat.

An ensuing search warrant led to the seizure of number of electronic devices, on which investigators allege they found over a million illegal files during a forensic analysis.

These files led investigators to believe there were numerous unidentified victims, who they began to work to identify.

Additionally, they believe the man was active on numerous social messaging sites such as; Snapchat, TikTok, Omegle, Likee and KIK Messenger.

Police allege the man uses the screen names; dirtyboy, dirtyboui, Daddy Dirty, Virus Redbeast, Rock Shan Rock and variants on these apps.

Karthik Manimaran, then 33 of Whitby, was charged with possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography and distribution of child pornography in February 2021.

DRPS partnered with the DHS in attempt to identify the unknown victims found in the files. The two organizations identified 12 victims, all of whom were and are now safeguarded by DHS.

Manimaran now faces additional charges of luring, making child pornography, making sexually explicit material available to a child, extortion, uttering threats, criminal harassment and voyeurism.

Anyone with information pertinent to the investigation can call D/Cst. Powell of the Internet Child Exploitation Unit at 1-888-579-1520 ext. 5545.