Seven men have been arrested and charged in Alberta after investigators uncovered vast collections of child pornography.
The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit made the arrests between June and August in Calgary, Lethbridge and Red Deer.
ALERT said the unit launched Operation ICE Storm in June and focused on high-level targets that were sharing and distributing vast collections of child sexual exploitation materials via peer-to-peer file sharing networks.
The operation prioritized suspects with the largest collections and some of the most graphic child sexual abuse content, ALERT said.
More than 40 computers and electronic devices were seized, which ALERT said resulted in forensic investigators discovering more than 405,000 images and 11,000 videos.
“We know that every day, thousands of child sexual abuse material is being downloaded, viewed and shared in communities big and small across Alberta, and an operation like this highlights the amount of data our unit needs to comb through,” said Staff Sgt. Mark Auger with the ALERT ICE team.
“One of the devices seized held more than 300,000 images.”
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At this point, ALERT said ICE investigators do not believe any of the victims are from Alberta or that any hands-on offences have taken place.
Seven men were arrested. Each face charges of possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography, and making child pornography available:
• David Swann, 37, of Calgary
• Terry Beaudette, 55, of Calgary
• Rowan Bachand, 42, of Lethbridge
• Anthony Klassen, 40, of Calgary
• Jason Leone, 51, of Red Deer
• Jeremy Martinuk, 42 of Calgary
• Cheuk Fai Liu, 26, of Calgary
Police said all of the investigations into the men were separate and they were not known to each other. ALERT said it worked with police from Calgary and Lethbridge, as well as Red Deer RCMP, on the case.
Anyone with information about this investigation, or any child exploitation offence is encouraged to contact their local police or cybertip.ca.
ALERT is an Alberta government agency staffed with members from the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources, tasked with investigating serious and organized crime across the province.
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