A U.S. District Court has sentenced 40-year-old Canadian national Ramanan Pathmanathan to 33 years in a federal prison for orchestrating a horrific sextortion scheme that targeted more than 145 children across the United States.
Court documents revealed that Pathmanathan, of Toronto, Canada, used multiple fake social media accounts, primarily on Instagram and Facebook Messenger, to pose as a teenage boy from New Jersey. Between March 2014 and his arrest on March 10, 2021, he contacted at least 145 young girls and boys. The predator reportedly coerced his minor victims into engaging in sexually explicit acts during video chats, directing them to expose their genitals and, in disturbing instances, engage in sexual acts with dogs, siblings, and other relatives. When victims tried to stop communicating with him, he weaponized the recorded material, threatening to send the explicit images and videos to their parents, friends, and schools if they did not comply with his compounding demands.
Federal prosecutors and international law enforcement agencies heavily condemned the defendant’s actions, emphasizing the severe psychological trauma inflicted upon the young victims, some of whom were as young as six years old. In an official reaction following the landmark sentencing, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro expressed deep gratitude for the cross-border judicial cooperation that brought the extended investigation to a close. “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,” Pirro stated. “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.”
READ THE FULL STORY IN SAHARA REPORTERS
NEWS NOW:
