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Neil, 32 at the time, was charged with sexually abusing minors as young as six in nearly 200 pictures that circulated online.
Christopher Paul Neil was arrested in 2007. (Photo/Reddit)
A serial pedophile, Christopher Paul Neil, a Canadian school teacher, was caught after a global manhunt for using an app to conceal his online identity. His case gained widespread attention on Reddit after a user shared details about his arrest.
The post carried two side-by-side images – one swirled and another unswirled – of Neil, who was arrested in Thailand in 2007.
Neil, 32 at the time, was charged with sexually abusing minors as young as six in nearly 200 pictures that circulated online.
He was detained at a home he rented with a Thai boyfriend in Nakhon Ratchasima, The Guardian reported at the time.
The authorities used an application to unscramble the swirls digitally that covered the face of a man seen having sex with boys in Cambodia and Vietnam.
Various information such as his name, age, passport number, nationality, occupation, and previous and current employment locations were sent to interpol within a few days.
As per NBC News, Thai police traced cell phone calls to locate the offender in northeastern Thailand, at a residence far from the usual tourist route.
Based on a tip-off, Neil was arrested as Thai police drove their hostage 150 miles to Bangkok. Detectives from Interpol were equally thrilled when the suspect was arrested following a special nine-day campaign.
However, as Neil’s photos were made public, he abruptly quit the South Korean school where he was teaching and left for Bangkok International Airport.
He wore spectacles and shaved his head to conceal his identity when the Thai immigration authorities photographed him at the airport, initiating a nationwide search.
Bangkok police issued an arrest warrant for him after a Thai teenager came forward, alleging the individual had mistreated him several years prior.
A “high-risk sex offender,” Neil was known as “swirl face” due to his efforts to conceal his true identity. He served time in prison in Canada and Thailand.
Neil, also known as “Vico,” a 50-year-old who had lived in Thailand intermittently from 2002 to 2004, became the subject of an Interpol red notice, a key step toward potential extradition.
Authorities tracked Neil’s cell phone, leading them to a residence in Nakhon Ratchasima belonging to a 25-year-old Thai transsexual named Ohm. Upon arrest, Neil requested a lawyer and confirmed his identity.
According to the BBC, Neil was imprisoned in Thailand from August 2008 to September 2012 after being found guilty of sexually assaulting two minors. He was deported to Canada after being freed.
In December 2015, he entered a guilty plea to five more charges, including possessing child pornography in Canada and sexually abusing young boys in Cambodia. His sentence was lowered due to the time previously served.
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