By Shaun Penner

RECORD NUMBER OF CASE FILES

Two Grande Prairie residents charged after Internet Child Exploitation unit investigation

Apr 20, 2021 | 10:15 AM

Two Grande Prairie residents have been charged with at least one child pornography offence related to the online sexual exploitation of children.

This comes after the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams’ (ALERT) Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit arrested 24 suspects in the first three months of 2021.

ICE received a record number of case referrals in 2020, and has been collaborating with other police agencies to make arrests.

In the 2020-21 reporting year, ICE experienced a nearly 40 per cent increase in case referrals – 2,136 compared to 1,555 in the 2019-20 year.

“This is a concerning consequence of our digital dependency during the pandemic,” said ALERT CEO Supt. Dwayne Lakusta in a release. “ALERT has responded by directing more tools and resources to our ICE units and we are prepared to travel to every corner of the province in order to stop child sex predators.”

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Alberta’s ICE unit has more than 50 positions and is one of the largest in Canada. New provincial funding has added investigators, forensic technicians, analysts, and disclosure clerks, along with new technologies and software applications.

Justice Minister Kaycee Madu says the sexual exploitation of children is a crime that tears at the fabric of society and preys on our most vulnerable.

“Increased provincial funding is enabling ALERT to double the size of its ICE unit, ensuring it has the tools and resources to track down predators who commit these heinous acts and bring them to justice,” he says.

Grande Prairie residents Curt Backlund, 48, and Stedson MacDonald, 34, have been charged.

During the investigations, ICE relied upon the assistance of a number of partner agencies, including Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Lethbridge Police Service, Medicine Hat Police Service, and RCMP detachments in Barrhead, Beaverlodge, Blackfalds, Cochrane, Edson, Fort MacLeod, Grande Prairie, Onoway, Okotoks, Slave Lake, Stettler, and Wood Buffalo.

Anyone with information about these investigations, or any child exploitation offence is encouraged to contact local police or cybertip.ca.

Each of the suspects were also charged with at least one child pornography offence. There is no definitive link between the suspects other than the nature of offences allegedly committed.

• Michael Antonio, 25-year-old man from Calgary;
• Brad Bailey, 19-year-old man from Marlboro;
• Brett Beer, 54-year-old man from Onoway;
• Eric Bultmann, 30-year-old man from Calgary;
• Kevin Dykstra, 35-year-old man from Barrhead;
• Brian Harrison, 35-year-old man from Calgary;
• Jeremy Henderson, 42-year-old man from Okotoks;
• Bryan Hillman, 39-year-old man from Calgary;
• Christopher Hoffner, 34-year-old man from Medicine Hat;
• James Kydd, 39-year-old man from Calgary;
• Mica LePage, 44-year-old man from Edmonton;
• Jordan MacDonald, 30-year-old man from Edmonton;
• Cris Marshall, 29-year-old man from Stettler;
• James Merrison, 21-year-old man from Edmonton;
• Traline Munn, 44-year-old man from Cold Lake;
• Krishnamoort Nalla Naidu, 38-year-old man from Edmonton;
• Van Linh Nguyen, 24-year-old man from Edmonton;
• Ivan Scott, 47-year-old man from Cochrane;
• Jerry Lee Thompson, 47-year-old from Fort MacLeod;
• Hunter Tonneson, 20-year-old man from Blackfalds;
• Chase Viau, 23-year-old man from Edmonton; and
• Richard Westland, 45-year-old man from Medicine Hat.

(With files from Chris Brown – CHAT News Today)