Kingston (eCanadaNow) - A man who has posed as a young girl and blackmailed young women into revealing themselves online was sentenced to three years on Friday.
Kingston Man Mark Gary Bedford faced charges on child pornography and extortion, and was sentenced to three years after pleading guilty to ten assorted charges. The investigation began in Edmonton and stretched across Canada, ending in Ontario. A three-year sentence helps send a message to other would be Internet predators.
Bedford evidently began in 2005 when he began to pose as a young girl. After interacting and chatting for some time with young women, he would then turn and trick them into performing sexual acts on camera. Two young women, age 13 and 15 came forward to alert police. The reported that they had been blackmailed into exposing themselves online.
Bedford was first charged in 2006, and more than 10 teenage girls from the Edmonton area have come forward and been connected to the case. The first two teen girls were very brave to come forward considering the type of charges and their involvement.
“Without their help we would not have had a case,” said Sgt Kunce. Sgt. Kunce is a police investigator who helped run Bedford to ground in this case.
