Two Winnipeg men charged with child pornography possession, child luring

Winnipeg police arrested two men this week after investigations into online child sexual abuse.

In April, the Internet Child Exploitation Unit began investigating a man in Winnipeg who was allegedly using his computer to download child pornography videos and then making them available to other people to download.

Investigators were able to determine his location and on Thursday, police executed a search warrant at a home and seized electronic storage devices.

When officers searched thedevices, theyconfirmed the presence of child pornography, police said in a Friday news release.

A 44-year-old man was charged with possessing and accessing child pornography and using it for the purpose of distribution or sale.

As directed by the Criminal Code of Canada, the man was released from custody with numerous conditions.

Meanwhile, theCounter Exploitation Unit, in collaboration with the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, has beeninteracting with people attempting to lure children for a sexual purpose, police said, focusing on certain websites, social media and apps.

The investigation led to an arrest on Tuesday of a 27-year-old man charged with two counts of luring a person under 18 by means of telecommunication.

He was also charged with two counts of making sexually explicit material available to a person under 18 and making child pornography.

The man was was subsequently released with strict conditions to limit his access to the internet and anyone under the age of 18.

Thearrests come just a few days after Winnipeg police released statistics that suggests incidents ofchild pornography crimes in Winnipeg skyrocketed during the pandemic.

In 2020, there were 287 incidents regarding child pornography in Winnipeg,according to the Winnipeg Police Service Statistical Report from that year.

That's a92.6 per cent increase from 2019, and nearly 200 per cent more than the five-year average.

Winnipeggers are encouraged to report any informationinvolving incidents of online sexual exploitation or child pornographyby calling the Winnipeg Police Service'snon-emergency line at 204-986-6222.

The crimes can be reported online to Canada's national tip line at Cybertip.ca, which is operated by the Canadian Centre for Child Protection.