A man charged with child pornography offences previously connected to Grande Prairie has pleaded guilty to four crimes. The 38-year-old’s name is covered by a publication ban to protect the identities of his victims.
The Edmonton Journal reports he used images of his stepdaughter to lure 92 children into sending him child pornography. They were ages nine to 17 years old from multiple provinces and other countries.
The man was first charged with child pornography offences in January 2018 and at that time the ALERT Internet Child Exploitation Unit alleged he would pose as a teenage girl online in order to lure teenage boys and was reportedly using photos and names of innocent third parties to make internet personas. He was convicted for those offences in November 2020.
The charges answered to in court Thursday stem from incidents between December 2019 and January 2021 when he was on recognizance with conditions. Those included no access to devices that connect to the internet and no contact with anyone under 18 years old.
He has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography, communicating with persons under the age of 18 for the purpose of obtaining child pornography, extorting persons under the age of 18 to obtain child pornography, breaching conditions of recognizance to not access a computer, access the internet, and have contact with anyone under the age of 16. A sentencing hearing is scheduled for February.