Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children has hired a third-party investigator after one of its employees was arrested in connection to a child-luring probe – the second SickKids staffer to face child-exploitation charges in recent weeks.
On Thursday, Toronto police said 55-year-old Antonio Alvin Dela Cruz – a member of the hospital’s housekeeping staff – is facing five charges, including accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material, and luring a person under 18 years of age by means of telecommunication.
SickKids said in a statement on Thursday that once the hospital became aware of the charges, Mr. Dela Cruz was placed on leave. He has since resigned.
“The conduct described in the charges is completely unacceptable and runs contrary to our core values. It represents a profound breach of the trust that patients, families, staff and the public place in the people who work at SickKids,” SickKids president and chief executive Ronald Cohn said in the statement.
“The safety and well-being of our patients, families, and staff is our highest priority, and we are committed to maintaining the trust that our community places in us.”
SickKids spokesperson Sarah Warr told The Globe and Mail in an e-mail on Friday that the hospital has hired KPMG, an auditing company, to review human resource and information technology governance.
“The purpose is to identify opportunities to strengthen safeguards related to recruitment, pre-employment screening, ongoing employee due diligence, acceptable technology use, and monitoring for inappropriate activity on SickKids devices and systems,” she said in the statement.
The Toronto Police Service Internet Child Exploitation Unit began its investigation in October, 2024. Police alleged in a news release that Mr. Dela Cruz sent inappropriate messages and explicit pictures to a 15-year-old through social media and phone chat applications.
Investigators executed a search warrant last week in the Don Mills Road and Highway 401 area and seized multiple electronic devices and written documentation, the release said.
Mr. Dela Cruz was scheduled to appear in court on July 29.
In its statement on Thursday, SickKids said the arrest of Mr. Dela Cruz is “deeply disturbing,” given that one of its physicians was charged with child-related offences last month.
On July 21, police arrested Dilan Dissanayake, 44, a staff rheumatologist at the same hospital. He is facing one count of possessing child sexual abuse material and one count of accessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material.
Defence lawyer Daniel Brown, who is representing Mr. Dissanayake, declined to comment.
The two employees did not know or work with each other “to our knowledge,” the hospital’s news release said. The allegations against them have not been tested in court.