Convicted sex offender granted bail
A convicted sex offender with a history of offences in the United States relating to children, including the making of child pornography with his own daughter, was released on bail Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court under strict conditions.
Harry Tschernitzky, who has been in custody since being arrested on Sept. 5, is charged with several offences including several breaches of the peace bond he signed after being deported from the United States to Canada after serving 17 years in prison related to his past offences. His peace bond conditions include orders he not access the internet without direct supervision by a designated person or be at locations where persons under 18 may reasonably be expected to be in attendance.
Tschernitzky is also charged with possession of child pornography and the making, printing and publishing of child pornography.
Tscherntizky’s new release conditions reinstate the prohibitions of his original peace bond, but also restrict him to his residence at all times except when accompanied by a designated family member, or for medical emergency, or if fulfilling his court-ordered obligations to report for counselling, to his parole officer or to the police. The accused was also required to pay a bond of $3,500 as a surety of good behaviour.
A court-ordered publication ban precludes the media from publishing the reasons presented for Tschernitzky’s release due to the potential for these details to be presented as evidence in a future trial. The case returns to court on Nov. 2.
The Lethbridge Police Service began surveillance of Tschernitzky after pictures he brought in to be developed to a local photo lab were reported as suspicious by one of the photo lab’s technicians. Tschernitzky was subsequently arrested on Sept. 5 after officers observed the accused entering the Lethbridge Public Library and using the internet.
The officers then seized the computer the accused had used, and followed this with a search of his vehicle where it is alleged they discovered pornographic materials related to children.