Accused in child porn case expected to set trial date

A Lethbridge man facing child pornography charges following a police sting is expected to set a trial date during his next court appearance later this month.

Robert Kelly Rogers was in Lethbridge provincial court Tuesday where an agent for his lawyer simply adjourned to Monday. The agent told court a date for trial will likely be scheduled during next week’s hearing.

Rogers, 44, is charged with single counts of possessing child pornography, accessing child pornography and distributing child pornography. The charges were laid last summer following an extensive investigation by ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation team.

The ICE team, which includes members of the RCMP, Lethbridge police, Medicine Hat police and Calgary police, initiated Operation ICE Storm 3 in November 2015. The sting focused on child sexual exploitation photos and videos being traded on peer-to-peer file-sharing networks, and prioritized suspects with the largest collections and some of the most graphic content.

Over a period of about eight months ICE conducted 30 searches across southern Alberta. Police seized 285 computers, mobile devices and storage drives, and uncovered thousands of child sex exploitation photos and videos. The photos depict extreme sexual abuse, with some victims as young as six months old.

A second Lethbridge man, John Phillip Tulloch, also faces single counts of possessing child pornography, accessing child pornography and distributing child pornography. He is scheduled to have a preliminary hearing next month.

Several men from Medicine Hat and Calgary were also caught in the police child pornography sting.