Amsterdam Child Porn Probe Led To 19 Arrests

AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS (BNO NEWS) -- Dutch police have arrested nineteen people during their two-year-long investigation into the contacts of a Dutch man who has since been convicted of sexually abusing at least 67 children while employed at nurseries in the capital Amsterdam.

Robert Mikelsons, now 29, was convicted last year of sexually abusing 67 children while offering babysitting services online and while employed at two Amsterdam nurseries between February 2007 and January 2010. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison and involuntary psychiatric treatment which is known as TBS in Dutch criminal law, but an appeal is pending.

The country's prosecutor's office said its two-year investigation into Mikelsons' contacts with other pedophiles has resulted in a total of nineteen arrests, including nine who have already been brought to trial and convicted for charges relating to child abuse and the possession, production, and distribution of child pornography.

During Operation Holitna, investigators discovered that Mikelsons had been in chat contact with at least 68 people in the Netherlands about child sex abuse. But Dutch police did not follow up with 43 of those people because chat logs on Mikelsons' computer did not indicate they had committed illegal activities.

Of the nineteen people who were arrested during the probe, one suspect has since died while prosecutors decided not to pursue charges against a second suspect on the condition of undisclosed terms. Eight people have been sentenced to prison terms as high as four years, one person received a conditional community service sentence, and eight others are awaiting further action.

"During (these) investigations into child pornography, ten new victims have been identified, for whom the abuse situation has been ended," the prosecutor's office said in its statement. It added that 440 other people were identified in 52 other countries, and information about these cases has been handed over to the authorities in those countries, which include the United States, Canada and Germany.

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