City man pleads not guilty to child pornography charges

A Lethbridge man facing child pornography charges following a police sting last summer pleaded not guilty Monday during a brief hearing in Lethbridge provincial court.

Robert Kelly Rogers offered pleas to single counts of possessing child pornography, accessing child pornography and distributing child pornography, which were laid last summer following an extensive investigation by ICE, ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation team. Rogers, 44, also elected to be tried by a provincial court judge.

Rogers was expected Monday to set a trial date, but the matter was adjourned to March 27 for that purpose.

The ICE team, which included 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 in a month.

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