By Shaun Penner

26 charged

Grande Prairie man charged following ALERT online child exploitation investigations

Sep 30, 2020 | 9:44 AM

A 40-year-old Grande Prairie man has been charged in an online child exploitation investigation, conducted by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams’ (ALERT) Internet Child Exploitation unit (ICE).

Between June 20 and September 17 of this year, ICE charged 26 suspects across Alberta with a total of 63 offences. ALERT says in a news release that most of the arrests came from investigative referrals from the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre.

Brian Farris of Grande Prairie is one of those 26 individuals charged with at least one offence related to child pornography. Other suspects charged include:

• A 16-year-old youth offender from Sherwood Park
• Kevin Borchert, a 29-year-old man from Sherwood Park
• David Cadieux, a 27-year-old man from Calgary
• Joseph Cadrain, a 32-year-old man from Strathmore
• Gary Campbell, a 28-year-old man from Lamont
• Michael Ciesla, a 32-year-old man from Edmonton
• Michael Courtepatte, a 44-year-old man from Athabasca
• Victor Delage, a 29-year-old man from Wainright
• Gerald Donel, a 57-year-old man from Edmonton
• Humberto Ferreyra, a 51-year-old man from Lake Louise
• Coby Franz, a 42-year-old man from Alder Flats
• Sean Giles, a 41-year-old man from Lethbridge
• Brock Hann, a 21-year-old man from Morinville
• Richard Lepchuk, a 59-year-old man from Edmonton
• Christian Meier, a 52-year-old man from Calgary
• Troy Melnyk, a 49-year-old man from Spruce Grove
• Stephen Miehe, a 28-year-old man from Cardston
• Alasdair Mills, a 61-year-old man from Edmonton
• David Peeke, a 45-year-old man from Edmonton
• Christopher Piers-Hanley, a 31-year-old man from Edmonton
• Kalon Specht, a 30-year-old man from Edmonton
• Andrew Stredick, a 30-year-old man from Calgary
• Charles Tadashore, a 43-year-old man from Calgary
• Laurence Thrasher, a 40-year-old man from Edmonton
• Michael Vandermay, a 52-year-old man from Calgary.

“In Alberta, those who participate in the exploitation of children will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” said Justice Minister Kaycee Madu, in the release. “On behalf of all law-abiding Albertans, I thank ALERT and the law enforcement organizations across the province that worked tirelessly to arrest and charge these criminals.”

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ALERT says ICE worked in collaboration with the Grande Prairie RCMP during the investigations and arrests, as well as several other law enforcement agencies across the province.

“The internet isn’t anonymous and these arrests demonstrate ALERT’s willingness to travel to all corners of the province to make arrests, put predators behind bars, and keep kids safe,” said Supt. Dwayne Lakusta, CEO of ALERT.

ICE is an integrated team that includes members of the Calgary, Edmonton, Lethbridge and Medicine Hat Police Services, as well as the RCMP. ICE investigates offences involving child pornography, computer-related child sexual abuse, child luring over the Internet, voyeurism involving victims under the age of 18, and child sex trade/tourism.

In the news release, ICE speculates that the rise in the number of investigative referrals ot them is most likely related, in part, to digital dependency because of COVID-19 isolation measures.