A tip from Queensland’s elite pedophile hunting Task Force Argos has grown into a major child sexual assault and child pornography investigation in Canada with new alleged victims coming forward.
Alberta’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit announced in January they had followed an Argos lead and charged Christopher Juneau of Eckville, Alberta, with child pornography, possessing child pornography, accessing child pornography, and voyeurism.
Extensive media coverage of Juneau’s arrest led to other potential victims contacting Canadian authorities and Juneau now faces 73 charges.
At least eight child victims have been identified, ICE said.
Authorities said they were able to identify some of the additional victims through forensic analysis of Juneau’s computers and other seized electronic devices.
Forensic analysis of Juneau’s phone and computers are yet to be completed but authorities allege they have so far found more than half a million images and videos of child sexual exploitation and voyeurism.
Juneau, 34, has remained in custody since his January arrest.
Queensland’s Task Force Argos is a world leader in investigating online child exploitation and abuse and regularly inform authorities in other nations about potential pedophiles they have detected.
Lawyer: Child Porn Cartoon is a “Victimless Crime”
Around a month ago, another instance of child pornography was brought to light in the Court of Appeal.An Australian Federal Police (AFP) officer failed to convince a court he shouldn’t have been jailed for accessing child pornography because most of the images were cartoons.
Gregory Paul Edwards’s offending came to light when he submitted an AFP internal integrity report in January 2017, saying he had accidentally viewed explicit material while in a public chat room.
However, an analysis of his computer found he had also used the internet to access child pornography 31 times over a four-month period earlier that year.
He pleaded guilty to using a carriage service to access child pornography in the Brisbane District Court late last year, and was ordered to serve two months of a 15-month jail term.
Edwards took his case to the Court of Appeal, arguing he shouldn’t have served actual jail time because most of the images were graphic representations or cartoons of children.
His lawyer argued the material was a “victimless crime” because no children were used in depicting them.
However, the Court of Appeal on Feb. 12 rejected this argument, saying the cartoons still normalise exploitative behaviour and fuel the demand for such material.
The court also noted that 33 images and videos viewed by Edwards involved real children being abused.
“The sentence imposed on the applicant cannot be demonstrated to be manifestly excessive,” Justice Philip Morrison wrote in his judgment.
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