CHILD PORN ARRESTS
RCMP charge 11 Sask. men as part of a Canada-wide investigation
Three Saskatoon men are among 11 from Saskatchewan facing child pornography charges after a Canada-wide investigation.
The charges resulted from an investigation of Internet child exploitation dubbed Project Snapshot III, which ran from Feb. 1 to May 27. More than 160 investigations were done across the country, said Staff Sgt Ron Weir, coordinator of the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation unit (ICE).
Five prepubescent children in other provinces were rescued — two in British Columbia and one each in Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick, Weir said.
“That was absolutely a great bonus. Any time we can remove a child from these kinds of environments where they’re being abused in any manner, that’s a huge success,” he said.
Weir couldn’t say how the victims were related to the offenders.
“They were removed in some manner from that environment so there was going to be no more abuse,” Wier said.
All police agencies have mechanisms to provide followup care for the children, he said.
The three accused Saskatoon men are Paul Anthony Burke, 32, Trevor Frank Harrison, 47 and Russell Dennis Wolfe, 55, each of whom are charged with accessing and possessing child pornography. Wolfe is also charged with a third offence of making child pornography available to others.
“ANY TIME WE CAN REMOVE A CHILD FROM THESE KINDS OF ENVIRONMENTS ... THAT’S A HUGE SUCCESS.”
STAFF SGT. RON WEIR
Six others from across the province each face the charges of accessing child porn, possessing child porn and making it available to others: Terrance Wiggins, 33, of Manor; James Patrick Lalonde, 35, of Zenon Park; Kevin James Leibel, 41, of Balgonie; Todd Michael Fitzpatrick, 40, of Moose Jaw; Ryan Christopher Palumbo, 27, of Yorkton and Todd Jason Staples, 30, of Pierceland.
Devon James Kupiec, 23, of Regina and Gary Kevin Nuspl, 41, of Neilburg are charged with accessing and possession. Nuspl is also charged with interception of private communications and possession of interception devices, theft under $5,000 and unlawfully being in a dwelling.
The accusation that Nuspl secretly recorded a conversation, entered the person’s house and stole something resulted from evidence discovered when his computer files were examined, but they were not related to the child pornography offences, Weir said.
Charges against three other people are pending.
Saskatchewan’s ICE unit participated in the project, which focused on people using file-sharing networks that disseminate child sexual abuse images, video and written material, Weir said. The unit conducted 15 investigations, executed 12 search warrants throughout the province, and laid 33 criminal charges.
Many computers and media devices were seized and thousands of images and videos will be examined for court purposes.
Investigators do not believe there is any association between any of the accused.
Operation Snapshot III was coordinated by the National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC), a division of the Canadian Police Centre for Missing and Exploited Children/Behavioural Sciences Branch (CPCMEC/BSB) in Ottawa.
The Saskatchewan ICE unit is an integrated unit made up of members from the RCMP and municipal police services in Saskatoon, Prince Albert, and Regina. The unit consists of eight investigators and four forensic technicians.