Civilian IT specialist with Edmonton police charged with child porn offences

A civilian employee working for the Edmonton Police Service for nine years has been charged with child pornography-related offences.

The41-year-old man was an Information Technology specialist at EPS and worked mainly in the training centre and had little if any contact with the public, EPS Insp. Carlos Cardoso said Tuesday.

The man was arrested April 7 after a joint investigation between the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams' Internet Child Exploitation unit and the Victoria Police Department.

A Victoria investigator was posing as a parent and the suspect was trying to arrange to have sex with a child,ICEInsp. DaveDubnyksaid.

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The ICE unit was brought in to the investigation when Victoria police figured out the man was based in Edmonton.

Police searched the suspect's southeast Edmonton home where they seized a number of computer and electronic devices. The man was arrested in a vehicle leaving the home.

"No child was ever in danger during this investigation," Dubnyk said.

However, he is charged with agreement to commit a sexual offence against a child, making child pornography, and distributing child pornography.

"The details of this narrative were of such a graphic nature that it constitutes a charge of making child pornography," Dubnyk explained.

"There's a strong sense of disgust," Cardoso said. "This type of behaviour is not condoned."

The employee was suspendedwithout pay the day he was charged, Cardoso said.

Cardoso said an internal investigation will determine the man's future with EPS "whether he has a job or he doesn't."

The man was released on bail and has to follow a number of court-imposed conditions.

He is not allowed to have any electronic devices and must stay more than 100 metres away from any public facility where children may be present. He is prohibited from being in the company of children.

He is scheduled to make his first court appearance on April 26.