Man who pretended to be priest faces more exploitation charges
A man who pretended to be a member of the Catholic clergy is facing new charges related to child exploitation after more victims came forward with information, say police, who earlier this week announced details about the case.
The 33- year- old was first charged with the exploitation of two teenage boys after the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) seized electronic devices containing child pornography images at a north Edmonton home July 27, police said Tuesday. The investigation was launched after the mother of one of the boys alerted police to sexually graphic messages exchanged online for several months, police said at the news conference.
The relationship with the boy later became sexual, police said, adding that offences related to a second boy were committed online. Since releasing information publicly, the ICE unit, which is part of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT), received several tips and two additional victims came forward, police said in a Friday news release.
“We would continue to encourage anyone with any information, no matter how old it is, to contact their local police or Crime Stoppers,” Det. Brian Cross of the ICE unit said in the release. “Regardless of how much time has passed, that information is still very important to our investigation.”
The accused, who moved to Edmonton earlier this year from Langley, B.C., has no affiliation with the Catholic Archdiocese of Edmonton or any other diocese, police said. The police have no evidence the offences occurred while the accused was posing as a priest.
Justin Georges Stephen Coulombe was initially charged with two counts of luring to commit the making of child pornography, luring to commit an offence against a child, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, sexual assault, possession of child pornography and extortion.
New charges include four counts of sexual interference and one count of invitation to sexual touching. He is to appear in court for a bail hearing next week.