A man and woman are in custody after they allegedly sexually and physically assaulted dozens of men, women, and children and uploaded videos of some of the assaults to the internet over a period of 17 years, Toronto police say.

In a news release issued Monday, Toronto police said an investigation into the pair began in January 2020 and was conducted in partnership with officers at 55 Division and members of the Child & Youth Advocacy Centre, Child Exploitation Section.

According to police, the assaults occurred over the past 17 years in the area of Danforth Avenue and Dawes Road as well as Danforth Road and Eglinton Avenue.

Police said many of the assaults were recorded and uploaded online.

The two accused, who have been identified by police as 37-year-old Toronto resident Martin "Mark" Wettlaufer and 42-year-old Kathleen Wardlaw, also of Toronto, have now been arrested. The suspects are intimate partners, according to police. 

Police said to date, more than 400 charges have been laid in relation to at least 41 victims and investigators are still trying to identify a number of others who they believe were assaulted.

“I will say that this is the most prolific and disturbing case of child sexual abuse and exploitation in our service’s history,” Const. Alex Li told CP24 on Monday afternoon. “Having spoken to our investigators we still have a number of unidentified victims and are looking for the assistance of the public to have these victims come forward to police.”

Li told reporters that approximately 80 per cent of the victims are children.

He said that due to the “disturbing nature” of the case investigators understand that there might be reluctance on the part of victims to come forward but want those individuals to know that they will be supported.

“We want to reassure these individuals that we have two people arrested who we believe are responsible for these charges and that we have different avenue of resources to help protect these victims as well get them the help that they need,” he said.

Both suspects are scheduled to make their next court appearance on March 4.