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American man accused of grooming, luring B.C. teen through social media

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An American man has been arrested following the alleged luring of a Canadian teenager.

Mounties in Surrey said the investigation conducted by the detachment and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security began earlier this fall.

They allege the man used social media to communicate with a 14-year-old who lived in Surrey, B.C., starting in September.

Police said the man, who they say was a 35-year-old resident of Oregon, used an alias, but did not give details on that alias.

They also did not say which social media platform the man allegedly used to contact the teen.

"He then allegedly groomed the youth for a sexual purpose, and coerced them to create, and distribute self-exploitive sexual material," the RCMP detachment said in a statement Wednesday.

Officers didn't say how exactly the case came to their attention, but said investigators worked with the victim to gather evidence.

That evidence suggested the person who'd been contacting the teen was based south of the border, Mounties said, so Homeland Security Investigations agents were brought in on the case.

These HSI agents identified more victims, according to the RCMP, then named Kevin McCarty as their suspect.

He was arrested in California on Nov. 18, and is facing charges in the U.S. The charges include sexual exploitation of children, distribution of child pornography, cyberstalking and online enticement of a minor. The criminal complaint filed in Oregon also includes the charge of transferring obscene material to a minor.

Police on both sides of the border have not said how the suspect was identified, nor have they said how many victims have been connected to the investigation.

The allegations against McCarty have not been proven in court.

Additionally, evidence allegedly uncovered in this investigation will be used in a larger police operation – called Project Arachnid – the goal of which is to stop the distribution of child pornography.

"This can help address victims' fears that someone they know may come across their image on the internet," Surrey RCMP Cpl. Danielle Pollock said in Wednesday's news release.

The project is a Canada-wide initiative that works to detect child sexual abuse material and notify the provider hosting the content that it needs to be removed. 

According to the team behind it, the system is able to process tens of thousands of images per second. Images that require assessment are then flagged for an analyst. As of Nov. 1, more than nine million notices have been sent to providers. About 85 per cent of the notices issued relate to victims who are not known to have been identified by police.

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