82-Year-Old Nudist Dies In Custody
ATTN: Nudist Parents. If you wonder where some of those photos are going you might check with the Toronto police to see if your children are included in this collection. I recognize Kurt Frenkel. Some of you might as well. Nikki Craft
July 24-28, 2003CHARGES LAID IN CHILD PORNOGRAPHY, PROSTITUTION,
PEDOPHILIA CASES ACROSS CANADA
Reprinted from Focus on the Family (Canada) Association
An 82-year-old recluse faces criminal charges and a cache of nearly half-a-million images of child pornography is in Toronto police custody - all because of a broken water pipe, the National Post reported Wednesday.
A workman sent last Friday to repair a leak in an apartment building stumbled across what the Post says is "the largest child pornography seizure in Toronto's history." The collection of slides, magazines, negatives and photographs were all in plain view. The images included both "boys and girls, nobody older than 12 or so," Detective Constable Stefan Mueller told Canadian Press. "[The accused] was so involved . . . it appears he has done this his whole life."
Kurt Frenkel has been charged with possessing and producing child pornography. He has no previous criminal record. Police believe Frenkel took some of the photographs at nudist resorts in western Europe during the 1970s and 1980s. "He has probably victimized people in Canada, so we're very interested in talking to anyone who has information on this man's past," Staff Inspector Bruce Smollet of the Toronto police sex crimes unit told the Post.
Noting the Frenkel apparently did not build his collection via the Internet, University of Alberta law professor Sanjeev Anand calls the discovery "fortuitous." "If a [child pornographer] is not active on the Internet and wants to be a hermit, it's nearly impossible to track them down," he told the Post. "Unless something like a water pipe is broken, there are very few ways someone can get access to their home."
COPS TRYING TO IDENTIFY CHILDREN
IN PORNOGRAPHIC PHOTOGRAPHS
Thu, July 24, 2003
Police hope to ID porn victims
500,000 images seized
By IAN MCDOUGALL, TORONTO SUN
Toronto Police are trying to put names to faces as they continue investigating a massive child porn stash found this week in a highrise apartment. Police will crop faces off the pornographic pictures and circulate them in the community to see if they can be identified, said Staff-Insp. Bruce Smollet. "One of our initiatives is to try and identify more and more faces and reach these people," Smollet said.
Kurt Frenkel, 82, has been charged with possessing and making child pornography. He is due to make another court appearance today. Frenkel was arrested and charged after police found more than 500,000 images of children in a Bloor St. apartment.
Cops also seized a photo enlarger, cameras, telephoto lenses and film developing equipment. 33Smollet said the pornographic images appear to date back to the 1960s and 1970s, but there are also more recent pictures. "Some are certainly in the '90s," he said.
Calls have started coming in, Smollet said, adding all the information police have received still must be confirmed. The pictures have not been released to the media.
The police did release earlier and current pictures of Frenkel to news media. Police said Frenkel, a tool and die maker by trade, grew up in Germany before moving to Canada in 1948. They also believe he visited nudist camps while travelling through Europe.
Jul. 23, 2003. 01:00 AM
82-year-old man charged with making child porn
Police seize 500,000 images of children, some as young as 3
Investigators seek help identifying victims as far back as 1950s
BETSY POWELL
CRIME REPORTER Toronto Star
Toronto police are looking for help in identifying children, some as young
as 3, pictured in a collection of about 500,000 pornographic images seized
from a downtown apartment. The material, which includes photographs,
negatives, slides and magazines, dates back to the 1950s and appears to go
through to the 1990s, Staff Inspector Bruce Smollet of the sex crimes unit
told a news conference yesterday. "The majority of the images are of
children between the ages of 3 and 12, some of whom are engaged in explicit
sexual activity with other children or adults," he said.
Eighty-two-year-old Kurt Frenkel is charged with possession and making
child pornography. Frenkel, a short man whose bony frame barely filled out
his jail-issued, orange jumpsuit, appeared in court yesterday and was
remanded in custody until tomorrow. Frenkel appeared confused and indicated
to the judge he was hard of hearing. He has not retained a lawyer.
Smollet said police have released pictures of the accused, including one
from 1966, in the hope someone might recognize him. Frenkel was born and
raised in Germany and immigrated to Canada in 1948. He has since become a
Canadian citizen and "we have information that he has travelled extensively
during the 1970s and 1980s to Western Europe," including Denmark, Germany,
France and the Netherlands.
Police allege that some of the pictures of children may have been taken at
nudist resorts in Europe. Investigators also want to talk with anyone who
has known Frenkel in Canada, Smollet said. Officers brought a "small
sampling" of the seized material ˜ three clear bags filled mostly with
yellow slide cases but also a poster-size blowup of naked children ˜ to
police headquarters yesterday. The entire amount would likely fill 15 more
bags. "What is unusual in this day and age is it doesn't appear that
Frenkel had access to a computer, so all of these images are what we would
call hard copy. It does not appear that they were stored electronically in
any way," said Smollet.
Police allege some of the images are Frenkel's own work behind the lens.
Photo equipment, including "a large quantity of cameras and darkroom
supplies," was also seized after police searched Frenkel's Bloor St. E.
apartment last Friday. So far none of the images appears to have been taken
in that apartment, "but we've only really scratched the surface of starting
to examine these images," said Smollet.
Wed, July 23, 2003
Cops seek assist in porn case
Man accused of having child smut in court
By IAN ROBERTSON, TORONTO SUN
An elderly hermit appeared in a Toronto court yesterday accused of making
and accumulating a massive collection of child pornography, ranging from
erotica to "explicit" sex acts. More than 500,000 images of children, aged
three to 12, allegedly involved in sex acts together or with adults were
seized, Staff-Insp. Bruce Smollet said. In addition to the thousands of
glossy magazine images, slides, and photos seized in Kurt Alfred Frenkel's
upscale highrise flat on Bloor St. E., Smollet said officers filled more
than two dozen large plastic bags and boxes with black-and-white negatives.
HARDCORE The images allegedly run "the gamut from what would be normally
classified as child erotica to hardcore child sex pornography," Det.-Const.
Stefan Mueller said.
Photos, negatives and magazines littered the unkempt apartment at Bloor St.
E. and Jarvis St., police said. Frenkel, 82, has lived there for about
seven years.
Born and raised in Germany, Frenkel came to Canada in 1948 and became a
citizen. He has travelled extensively in Europe, often visiting nudist
camps, police said.
NEED PUBLIC'S HELP Police released three photos of Frenkel taken in the
last 37 years, including one from a 1966 Canadian passport, in a bid to get
the public's help in the case. His only known relative is a twin sister in
the U.S. He is a slender man with a lopsided grin, protruding teeth, and a
German accent.
Smollet said numerous "poster-sized" enlargements of children -- including
one of a toddler naked from the waist down, photographed from behind --
"littered" the flat.
A photo enlarger, cameras, telephoto lenses and film developing gear were
also seized.
The sex assault squad obtained a warrant last Friday after a plumber sent
to fix a faucet in the apartment tipped off police. Frenkel is charged with
possession of child pornography and making child pornography. He made a
brief court appearance in Old City Hall yesterday and is to reappear
tomorrow at 11 a.m.
82-year-old dies in custody after child porn raid
Canadian Press
Toronto ˜ An 82-year-old man who was arrested last week in Toronto after
police found a huge stash of child pornography in his apartment died in
custody on Thursday, CablePulse 24 reported. Police said Kurt Frenkel died
in his jail cell, alone, moments after returning from a court appearance.
It appears he died of natural causes, police said. He was charged with
possession of child pornography and making child pornography after police
came across more than 500,000 images in his apartment, including thousands
of glossy magazine images, slides, photos and negatives. The children depicted
in the images are allegedly between the ages of three
and 12.
Police said numerous poster-sized enlargements of suggestive photos
littered the apartment. The sex assault squad obtained a search warrant
for Mr. Frenkel's home after a plumber sent to fix a faucet in the
apartment tipped off police.
He had appeared in court on Tuesday and was remanded into custody after
telling the judge he hadn't retained a lawyer. Mr. Frenkel was born and
raised in Germany and came to Canada in 1948. He became a citizen but
travelled extensively in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, often visiting
nudist camps, police said.
Elderly child porn suspect dies in custody
The Canadian Press
July 25, 2003
TORONTO -- An 82-year-old man who was arrested last week after police found
a huge stash of child pornography in his apartment died in custody on
Thursday. Police said Kurt Frenkel died in his jail cell, alone, moments
after returning from a court appearance. It appears he died of natural
causes, police said. He was charged with possession of child pornography
and making child pornography after police came across more than 500,000
images in his apartment, including thousands of glossy magazine images,
slides, photos and negatives. The children depicted in the images are
allegedly between the ages of three to 12. Police said numerous
"poster-sized'' enlargements of suggestive photos "littered'' the
apartment. The sex assault squad obtained a search warrant for Frenkel's
home after a plumber sent to fix a faucet in the apartment tipped off
police. He had appeared in court on Tuesday and was remanded into custody
after telling the judge he hadn't retained a lawyer.
Frenkel was born and raised in Germany and came to Canada in 1948. He
became a citizen but travelled extensively in Europe in the 1970s and
1980s, often visiting nudist camps, police said.
Fri, July 25, 2003
Suspect dies in jail
Senior, 82, arrested in kid-porn raid
By JONATHAN KINGSTONE, TORONTO SUN
An elderly hermit accused of having the largest child pornography
collection ever seized in Toronto died in his jail cell yesterday, less
than one week after his arrest. Kurt Frenkel, 82, was found dead in the Don
Jail shortly after returning from a court appearance. "He had just come
back and 30 minutes later he was dead in a back cell," a prison worker said
last night, adding Frenkel was being held alone.
Toronto Police, who were called to the Broadview Ave. and Gerrard St. jail
at 7:13 p.m., said there does not appear to be anything suspicious and
believe he likely died from natural causes. Frenkel was charged last Friday
after police found more than 500,000 images of children in his apartment in
an upscale Bloor St. E. highrise.
The thousands of glossy magazine images, slides and photos showed children
between three and 12 years old, many involved in sex acts together or with
adults. Cops also seized a photo enlarger, cameras, telephoto lenses and
film developing equipment.
By the time it was gathered up, Frenkel's massive collection filled 20 to
25 police evidence bags and seven legal file boxes, police said.
Frenkel had lived in his apartment for about seven years, but residents
hardly ever saw him. Born and raised in Germany, Frenkel came to Canada in
1948 and became a citizen. He has travelled extensively in Europe, often
visiting nudist camps, police said.
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