Durham police constable charged in child sexual exploitation probe, suspended without pay
Tre-Jamal Hamad, 31, of Ajax, faces seven charges after an OPP-led investigation that began with an Oct. 21 report.
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A Durham Regional Police constable is facing seven charges after an investigation led by the Northumberland Ontario Provincial Police. Tre-Jamal Hamad, 31, of Ajax, was arrested Oct. 25, a few days after police received a report on Oct. 21 about the alleged sexual exploitation of a young person.
Search warrants were executed in Whitby and Ajax, with help from Durham police's Digital Forensics Unit. The charges include possession of child sexual abuse and exploitation material, making sexually explicit material available to people under 18 and under 16, luring people under 18 and under 16 by telecommunication, indecent exposure to a person under 16, and making, printing, publishing or possessing for publication child sexual abuse and exploitation material. Hamad has not been tried on any of them; these are allegations before the courts.
Hamad has been held for a bail hearing and is due in the Ontario Court of Justice in Cobourg on Thursday. Durham police say he has been suspended without pay pending the outcome of court proceedings. The force said it takes the allegations "very seriously," but says it cannot comment further because the investigation was conducted by an outside service and the matter is now before the courts. A publication ban is in place.
OPP are asking anyone who had contact with the accused, or who has had similar experiences, to come forward to police.
