More charges for Pantherbone

CHARGES OF CHILD LURING, EXTORTION RESULT FROM ALERT INVESTIGATION

A 20-year-old man from the Blood Reserve is facing a second round of charges related to sexual exploitation of minors.

Skylar Pantherbone was arrested on Sunday following a joint investigation between ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation unit, Blood Tribe Police, and Lethbridge Police.

Pantherbone is alleged to have lured and sextorted a Lethbridge teen by hacking into her social media account and accessing private photos to sextort her.

The victim disclosed the offences to a Lethbridge Police School Resource Officer in March 2017, which prompted ICE’s involvement in the investigation.

The accused and victim were not known to each other. ICE tracked the hacker’s location, which also eventually led to his identification.

Pantherbone was arrested at a Blood Tribe First Nations home where a number of drugs and weapons were also seized.

During a search of the suspect’s home, police seized a number of electronic devices which will be subject to further forensic analysis.

The Blood Tribe Police’s Crime Reduction Unit assisted after a quantity of illicit pills, including suspected fentanyl and oxycodone, were found along with proceeds of crime and weapons.

Pantherbone is facing charges of child luring, extortion, accessing child pornography, possessing child pornography, and distributing child pornography.

He also faces charges of three counts of breach of recognizance, possession of proceeds of crime, possession of weapon dangerous to the public, drug trafficking, possession for the purpose of trafficking, and obstructing a peace officer.

Pantherbone’s breach charges are related to a previous ICE investigation where he was arrested in September 2016 for similar offences.

In that investigation, police reported at least three teenage girls in the Medicine Hat area were contacted online through Facebook by a person not known to them using the name ‘Ted Mitchell.’ The suspect requested the victim’s Snapchat username. When denied the request, ‘Ted Mitchell’ would send the victim a sexually explicit image of themselves they had previously posted online. The suspect threatened to send the images to the victims’ friends and family and to punish them if they didn’t comply.

The Southern Alberta ICE team investigation led them to Pantherbone, then 19, who was arrested at a rural property near Standoff.

Anyone with information about this investigation, or any child exploitation offence, is encouraged to contact local police or www.cybertip.ca.

Pantherbone is scheduled to appear in Lethbridge Provincial Court on Monday, August 28 at 9:30 a.m.

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