38-year-old man rearrested by Guelph police in Snapchat luring case
Posted Dec 4, 2025 02:58:51 PM.
Last Updated Dec 4, 2025 02:59:27 PM.
Officers arrested a man from Hamilton, Ont., again on Wednesday after further evidence was gathered in a child exploitation and luring case.
The 38-year-old man was arrested and charged for the first time this past summer for luring and sexually assaulting a Guelph child. The 13-year-old girl met the man through Snapchat in February, where they communicated regularly, a police release reads.
The suspect was “pressuring her for an intimate relationship, despite knowing her age,” officials said.
At some point, the man went to Guelph and picked up the girl and another young female to spend time with him in Hamilton. In a grassy area, the man touched the 13-year-old inappropriately, police said. This was reported to officers.
Then in July, the man was arrested by Guelph police for charges of luring a person under 16, sexual assault, sexual interference and criminal harassment.
During this arrest, the man’s phone was seized by officers.
After further investigation, police laid more charges of possessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material, invitation to sexual touching and communication with someone under 18 for the purpose of obtaining sexual services.
He was rearrested on Dec. 3 and is set to appear in court in the new year.
Online child exploitation on the rise
With increasing access to the internet, while digital literacy skills are struggling to keep up, online child exploitation is seeing a disturbing rise across the country.
According to a 2024 Parliamentary Notice from Public Safety Canada, the overall rate of online child sexual offence cases, including child pornography, has increased by 217 per cent since 2014. Indigenous and LGBTQ2S+ youth, as well as other minority communities, are more susceptible to these crimes.
In late October, the Supreme Court of Canada struck down a one-year minimum sentence for all cases of child pornography, saying the sweeping application covers a wide range of circumstances, making the sentence constitutionally vulnerable.
With files from CityNews’ Rachel Morgan.
