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Or sign-in if you have an account.Ramanan Pathmanathan of Toronto was sentenced to 33 years in U.S. prison this week on charges related to sexually exploiting and sextorting at least 145 minors. Photo by Toronto Police ServiceWARNING: This content could be disturbing to some readers.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.Exclusive articles by Conrad Black, Barbara Kay and others. Plus, special edition NP Platformed and First Reading newsletters and virtual events.Unlimited online access to National Post.National Post ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition to view on any device, share and comment on.Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword.Support local journalism.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one account.Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments.Enjoy additional articles per month.Get email updates from your favourite authors.Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.Access articles from across Canada with one accountShare your thoughts and join the conversation in the commentsEnjoy additional articles per monthGet email updates from your favourite authorsSign In or Create an AccountorA 40-year-old Toronto man who spent seven years sexually exploiting and sextorting hundreds of children online and then meticulously organizing his collection of depraved content into “wins,” was sentenced in a U.S. court this week to 33 years in federal prison.Some of Ramanan Pathmanathan’s 145 known victims in the U.S., authorities said in a statement Wednesday, were as young as six years old and some were made to “engage in sexual acts with dogs, siblings, and other relatives.”“Horrors no child should ever experience,” said U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro, vowing that the “United States will not allow international borders to serve as a refuge for those who prey on children.”Get a dash of perspective along with the trending news of the day in a very readable format.By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder.The next issue of NP Posted will soon be in your inbox.We encountered an issue signing you up. Please try againFor the time being, however, Canada’s border is Pathmanathan’s temporary refuge from the U.S. prison system.Toronto Police arrested him in March 2021 after being alerted by U.S. authorities and he was first charged and tried in Ontario, meaning he must serve his time in Canada before being extradited.As he did in the U.S. case against him, Pathmanathan pleaded guilty in 2022 to 39 sexual offences in relation to eight victims in Canada and was later given a sentence of nine years, seven months and 20 days after receiving enhanced credit for time served during the COVID-19 pandemic.In his sentencing decision, Ontario Court of Justice Judge David Porter said “it is difficult to overstate the seriousness” of Pathmanathan’s offences “and the extent of the depravity exemplified in his actions, which inevitably have had, and will have in the future, a devastating effect on his victims.”According to a U.S. court document obtained by National Post, between at least March 2014 and until the day of his arrest, Pathmanathan “impersonated the identity of a U.S. citizen, posing as a teenage boy from New Jersey” across multiple Instagram, Facebook Messenger and other social media platform accounts to communicate with “at least 145 minors,” predominantly pre-teen and teen girls.His specific actions involving 13 of the U.S. victims are described in the statement of offence following guilty pleas for production of child pornography and to coercion and enticement of a minor in a D.C. district courtroom this January, while on temporary leave from Canada for U.S. court proceedings.Like the Canadian sentencing, it explains how Pathmanathan “persuaded, enticed and coerced” his victims to photograph and video “themselves engaged in sexually explicit conduct” and then send it to him.Some of the conduct included sexual acts with “other minors, animals and foreign objects” and some was described as “sadistic and masochistic.”He also got them to do the same while live-streaming and used screen recording software to capture the content and save it on his computer.“In almost all the video chats with his minor victims, Pathmanathan sent the children images of adults engaged in sexual acts to show them how to do what he was requesting,” U.S. officials said.In one instance, he coerced a girl between 14 and 15 to engage in sexual acts with a 10-year-old boy. In another, the girl was between 16 and 17 and the boy was just six.When the victims told him they no longer wanted to take part he would threaten to share all the videos with their family and friends unless they continued to comply with his demands. If he blocked them, he would use different accounts to continue his threats.If the child cried, Pathmanathan would become “very angry.”At the time of his Canadian sentencing, police had identified 5,600 images and 200 videos on his computer that met the Canadian Criminal Code definition for child pornography, and over 400,000 images and 4,800 videos were awaiting categorization.Some of them included “children who appear to be toddlers and children between the ages of three to four years old.”“A short representative sample of the child pornography was viewed by the court in the sentence hearing,” Porter wrote. “It demonstrated that the pornography was at the extremity of depravity.”A judge overseeing Pathmanathan’s 2022 bail review said the collection was “meticulously labelled and organized.”Four folders on his desktop were labelled as “2020,” “Active,” “NEW,” and “WINS,” all of which contained graphic content. The latter contained 120 subfolders with a victim’s name and age, some of which included “dogs” or “incest” after the name.During a psychological evaluation ahead of his sentencing, Pathmanathan insisted that he was not attracted to teenagers and chose them as his targets because “his goal was to ‘win’ and he had more success winning with younger adults.”“He felt like he was in a video game, that the people that he was online with were not real people,” the psychiatrist wrote. “He stated that the victims were placed in the folders marked ‘win’, ‘lose’, or ‘fail’, based on the extent to which his extortion was, or was not, successful.”Asked if he was aroused by exerting control over people, Pathmanathan “responded that his motivation was to put individuals in the ‘win column.’”Pathmanathan, who immigrated to Canada from Sri Lanka when he was 11, was living with his parents at the time of his arrest and supported himself by playing online poker for nine to 10 hours daily.He attended Brock University after high school, but dropped out before completing a degree.In a written statement he read aloud in court at his Canadian sentencing, Pathmanathan expressed regret and remorse to his victims and their families.“I know it sounds difficult to believe because of what I have done, but hearing their victim impact statements genuinely broke my heart, and I’m extremely sorry for the pain and trauma I caused you guys. I really wish I can undo the suffering I have caused, and for wronging you guys in a terrible way.”Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark nationalpost.com and sign up for our daily newsletter, Posted, here. Join the Conversation This website uses cookies to personalize your content (including ads), and allows us to analyze our traffic. Read more about cookies here. By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.