Canadian man arrested on child exploitation charges

CALGARY, Alberta — A Calgary man was arrested and charged Wednesday with six child pornography related offenses. The charges are a result of a joint investigation by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams' (ALERT) child exploitation unit and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

Sean Ian Rose, age 32, of Calgary, has been charged with two counts of luring, and one count each of extortion, making, possessing and accessing child pornography. Rose was arrested at his residence in southeast Calgary March 28 without incident.

ALERT was following up on tips received in Canada about inappropriate online conduct by an individual with the username 'sirphaeton' when it learned of a Cincinnati-based HSI investigation into the same suspect. Together, ALERT and HSI special agents tracked the suspect to a Calgary residence.

The alleged victim is a 14-year-old girl from Ontario.

As a result of the investigation, HSI believes Rose have may have engaged in related activities with individuals in the Cincinnati-area.

Anyone with information about Rose is asked to contact HSI immediately, in one of two ways:

• Call the HSI Tip Line at 1-866-347-2423; or
• Submit a tip online at www.ICE.gov/tips.

Both are staffed around the clock by investigators. All tips will remain anonymous.

This investigation is part of Operation Predator, a nationwide HSI initiative to protect children from sexual predators, including those who travel overseas for sex with minors, Internet child pornographers, criminal alien sex offenders and child sex traffickers. HSI encourages the public to report suspected child predators and any suspicious activity through its toll-free hotline at 1-866-347-2423 or by completing its online tip form. Both are staffed around the clock by investigators.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or missing children may be reported to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, an Operation Predator partner, via its toll-free 24-hour hotline, 1-800-843-5678.

HSI is a founding member and current chair of the Virtual Global Taskforce, an international alliance of law enforcement agencies and private industry sector partners working together to prevent and deter online child sexual abuse.