Jail time given out in drug and child pornography cases

A one-time Grande Prairie security guard has been given an 18-month prison sentence on charges of possession and distributing child pornography.
 
Alberta Justice says Brian Hanly was also given 24-months probation that starts after his release from jail by a Grande Prairie court August 30.
 
Hanly, who had worked as a guard at a local high school and other city facilities, was arrested in October of last year after police acted on information received by the National Child Exploitation Centre in Ottawa.
 
That information led to a search of a home in northeast Grande Prairie by ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit and Grande Prairie RCMP.
 
Police said at the time that no local kids had been exploited.
 
 
Drug bust sentences
 
Three people charged in connection with drug cases in this area have now been handed prison sentences.
 
Alberta Justice says Douglas Gordon Hanks was given two years behind bars for a charge of possession for the purpose of trafficking in a Grande Prairie courtroom August 27.
 
Francois Regis Muhire had already been given a 26-month sentence July 3 after pleading guilty to charges that included trafficking and possession.
 
Kyler Samuel Schwartz was also given a two-year sentence last September. He was facing possession of stolen property and failure to comply counts.
 
The three were among 11 people charged after a 2016 drug bust in Grande Prairie. Cocaine, vehicles, and almost $100,000 cash were seized in searches of homes in Wembley, Clairmont, and Grande Prairie.
 
Charges were eventually withdrawn against the other eight, one of whom died not long after being charged.
 
At the time of that arrest, Muhire and Schwartz were already facing charges after a November 2014 drug bust.
 
Muhire was also charged in an Edmonton drug bust in 2017, which landed him another 18 days in jail for breach of recognizance.