Toronto Man Sentenced to 33 Years in US for Exploiting 145 Children

A Toronto man has been sentenced to 33 years in U.S. prison for sexually exploiting 145 children online over a seven-year period, including one as young as 6.

Ramanan Pathmanathan, 40, was sentenced on May 27 for exploiting children on various social media platforms from at least March 2014 up until the day of his arrest on March 10, 2021, a U.S. Attorney’s Office statement says.

Pathmanathan contacted 145 boys and girls, primarily through Instagram and Facebook Messenger, demanding they engage in sexually explicit acts during video chats with him. He pleaded guilty on Jan. 30 to one count of production of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.

“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,” U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro said. “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.”

Pathmanathan is currently serving a 12-year sentence in Canada for similar offenses he pled guilty to in 2022. His U.S. sentence will be served consecutively following his Canadian sentence.

During the U.S. hearing, the court heard that during video chats, Pathmanathan directed his young victims to expose their genitals and to engage in sexual acts with others, which he would record and store on his computer.

In most of the chats, Pathmanathan also sent the children images of adults engaged in sexual acts to show them how to do what he was requesting. He would also threaten to send images to family members when kids did not comply with his requests.

The investigation was conducted jointly by the FBI Houston Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and the Texas Department of Public Safety, as part of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Childhood initiative.

The initiative, implemented in February 2006, is led by the U.S. Attorney’s Offices and brings together federal, state, and local resources for the purpose of locating and prosecuting those who exploit children online, and to rescue victims.

Pathmanathan’s temporary release was secured by the Office of International Affairs of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division so that he could stand trial in the United States.

In Canada, child sexual exploitation cases are investigated by local police services and the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre, often working alongside provincial cybercrime units. Canadians are urged to report suspected offences to their local police or through Cybertip.ca, the national reporting centre for online child exploitation, which forwards cases to law enforcement.

Support for victims is available through services such as Kids Help Phone and provincial victim services, which provide counselling and assistance through the justice process.