BC charges laid in Amanda Todd online bullying case
Posted April 17, 2014 5:20 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – BC Crown Counsel has laid five charges against a 35-year-old Dutch man in connection with the Amanda Todd case.
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Insp. Paulette Freill said he was arrested in the Netherlands and since been charged with extortion, luring and criminal harassment and possession of child pornography for the purpose of distribution.
Freill says all the charges are related to incidents alleged to have happened between Jan. 1, 2010, and Oct. 10, 2012 — the same day Todd died.
Her mother, Carol Todd, told the media that this was the day her family has been waiting for and that she always knew in her heart that her daughter’s claims about being bullied were true.
The man is also facing charges related to possession and distribution of child pornography and the extortion of Dutch victims.
Dutch media is reporting the man was taken into custody in January and made his first court appearance yesterday.
He is also linked to cases in Great Britain and the US, according to the source.
People from around the world took note of the death of the Port Coquitlam teen in the fall of 2012 after she posted a YouTube video where she used flash cards to say she was blackmailed, bullied and assaulted. A month later she took her own life.
Carol Todd says she first heard these reports through the media. She tells News1130 at first, she was shocked. But she adds, “it makes me sort of relieved that something has been started and something’s been found and that the investigative sources have never given up on the case.”
“Am I surprised that it’s someone international that’s been caught? No, not at all. But I also feel that there were many people probably in those chat rooms, and this could only be one of many.”
The Coquitlam RCMP has been working on Amanda’s investigation non-stop, said Freill. “Thanks to the diligence of our investigators and the assistance of provincial, national and international partners we’ve achieved a major milestone: criminal charges. But our work isn’t over and Amanda’s story isn’t done as long as the court processes here and in the Netherlands are still underway.”
