Canadian Man Sentenced to 33 Years for Sextortion of 145 Children

Ramanan Pathmanathan, 40, of Toronto, Canada, was sentenced today in U.S. District Court to 33 years in federal prison for a prolific sextortion scheme that targeted more than 100 children across the United States. Pathmanathan pleaded guilty on January 30, 2026, to one count of production of child pornography and one count of coercion and enticement of a minor.

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro emphasized the severity of the crimes, saying, "This defendant spent years methodically hunting children online. He targeted more than 145 victims, some as young as six, and subjected them to horrors no child should ever experience." Pirro added that the U.S. would not allow international borders to serve as refuge for predators and thanked Canadian partners for their assistance.

In addition to the 396-month prison term, Chief Judge James E. Boasberg ordered Pathmanathan to serve 10 years of supervised release and register as a sex offender. This sentence will run consecutively to a 12-year sentence Pathmanathan is currently serving in Canada for similar offenses, to which he pleaded guilty on October 27, 2022.

Court documents reveal that between March 2014 and his arrest on March 10, 2021, Pathmanathan used multiple social media accounts, primarily Instagram and Facebook Messenger, to contact at least 145 young girls and boys. Posing as a teenage boy from New Jersey, he demanded victims engage in sexually explicit conduct during video chats, often sending images of adults engaged in sexual acts as instruction. He recorded these acts and threatened to send images to victims' friends or family if they refused to comply or blocked him.

The case was investigated by the FBI Houston Child Exploitation and Human Trafficking Task Force and the Texas Department of Public Safety, with crucial assistance from the Toronto Police Service and the Crown Operations Office, Ministry of Attorney General (Canada). The prosecution was part of the Department of Justice's Project Safe Childhood initiative, which aims to protect children from online exploitation.