MOOSE JAW — A bail hearing has been set for a man whom the Moose Jaw Police Service has charged with allegedly making child pornography and other related offences.
The 39-year-old man — who cannot be named because of a publication ban — appeared in person in Moose Jaw Provincial Court on July 7, where Legal Aid lawyer Merv Shaw acted on his behalf.
Shaw asked Judge Brian Hendrickson to order the creation of a bail verification report that included the possibility of using electronic monitoring should the man be released on bail. Hendrickson agreed to the request, while he imposed a publication ban to protect the identity of the victim(s).
The judge then set the bail hearing for Thursday, July 10, while he remanded the man back into custody since the Crown was opposed to his release.
According to the Moose Jaw Police Service, the agency’s criminal investigation section (CIS) and community police division initially executed a search warrant at a home in Moose Jaw on Feb. 20 during a firearms investigation.
That investigation led to officers seizing property, including a handgun, ammunition and electronic devices, while they charged the man — who also has a PO box number in Rouleau, according to provincial court — with multiple firearms offences, the police service said.
Officers released the man from custody with a court date, but he failed to attend as scheduled, which led to the court issuing a warrant for his arrest.
During the firearms investigation, officers carried out search warrants for several of the electronic devices they had seized, and while searching those devices, they discovered child pornography, the agency continued.
The CIS unit opened a separate investigation into the man with the assistance of the agency’s internet child exploitation (ICE) unit, which led to officers executing extra warrants, the MJPS added. As a result, the police service charged the man with making child pornography, accessing and possessing child pornography, arranging to commit a sexual offence against a child, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault.
During the July 7 court appearance, the Crown proceeded summarily (less seriously) on the firearms and failure to appear offences and by indictment (more seriously) on the child pornography offences.
