Saanich man pleads guilty in Canada voyeurism case with 652 victims

A 39-year-old Saanich, B.C., man has pleaded guilty in what police describe as the most prolific voyeurism case ever prosecuted in Canada, involving 652 identified women and girls. Yin Yeung Derek Chan is scheduled for sentencing in a Victoria court.

The investigation began in January 2024 after a detective learned that photos and videos had been uploaded to a popular social media site from the Saanich area. Police arrested Chan at his home in April 2024. Officers seized devices containing thousands of images and more than 28 hours of video recorded without the victims' consent.

According to police, the illicit material was created between April 2017 and November 2023. The recordings show unsuspecting victims at beaches, inside businesses, and through the windows of private homes.

Chan pleaded guilty last October to multiple voyeurism-related charges. These include surreptitiously recording people in a place where they reasonably expect privacy, making illegal child imagery, and publishing a recording obtained during the commission of a crime.

Police stated that of the 652 identified victims, investigators have formally identified and contacted 40 individuals. Some of those...