Five local men among dozens arrested in child exploitation investigation
Posted Jul 24, 2026 06:51:51 AM.
Last Updated Jul 24, 2026 01:57:00 PM.
A massive province-wide child exploitation and sexual abuse investigation led to the arrest of over 60 people, with 213 charges laid.
Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), along with 25 police services were involved in the initiative called “Project Time: Striking Back Against Child Exploitation.”
Waterloo Regional Police Service (WRPS) was one of them, making four arrests in Kitchener, Cambridge and Waterloo. One person from Guelph was also arrested by Guelph Police.
Two men from Kitchener, aged 25 and 50 years old, were arrested and charged. One 44-year-old from Waterloo and a 36-year-old man from Cambridge were also put in handcuffs.
The individual charged in Waterloo is facing the most offences, including 11 counts of making child exploitation material and two cases of luring a person under 16 years old.
Due to a publication ban issued by the court, only one of the accused locally can be named.
Stephen Pike from Cambridge is facing charges of possessing and accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material. The four accused in Waterloo Region are facing a combined 22 charges, with 40 electronic devices taken in by WRPS.
A man from Guelph, 22, was also charged. He, too, cannot be named under a publication ban.
The full list of those charged can be found here.
OPP said this investigation helped to identify and protect more than 50 children.
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