A 37-year-old man from the Montreal suburb of Lemoyne, Quebec was arrested
Wednesday around 8 p.m. as he was attempting to enter Canada.
The seizure involved "some still images as well as a number of videos"
featuring children involved in sexual activity found on the hard drive of a
laptop computer, said Chris Kealey, a spokesman with Canada Border Services
Agency (CBSA).
Kealey said the trucker's rig was targeted for the search based on his response
to questions from border officers. Iannick Dumouchel faces charges of failing
to report goods, smuggling and possession of prohibited material under the
Customs Act as well as importation and possession of child pornography under
the Criminal Code, said Kealey.
Dumouchel appeared in Brockville court Thursday and was remanded in custody
until his next appearance on Monday.
His arrest follows that of a 25-year-old Pennsylvania trucker on similar child
pornography charges after images and videos were found on a laptop computer at
the border crossing Monday.
Kenneth George Reeder made an appearance on those charges in a city courtroom
Wednesday and remains in jail pending another appearance today.
This week's arrests bring to six the number of child porn seizures at the
Thousand Islands Bridge this year, a staggering increase considering there were
just two in all of last year.
Most of the seizures have involved pornographic images found on laptop
computers belonging to commercial transport truck drivers, said Kealey.
According to Kealey, the jump in arrests this year is a testament to new
training border officers received through the OPP's Project P Child Pornography
Unit.
"Putting that training into practice is starting to yield results. We are
better able to screen people based on things that we are looking for and once
we are looking at a laptop or other devices É we're just better trained at
finding the material," he explained.
He described what investigators have found as "pretty disturbing."
"Very often the titles of the images itself or the video make it quite clear
what is on that file," noted Kealey.
Asked why CBSA is working more closely with OPP to crack down on the kiddie
porn coming into the country, Kealey told The Recorder and Times, "This is a
really terrible thing that's placed upon the children involved. É There are
horrendous social and personal effects on these children."
When an arrest in a child porn case is made, CBSA seizes the rig and requires
the owner - in most cases a trucking firm - to pay a fine to retrieve it. As
well, the accused is held in jail for at least one night and has his name
released to the public.
"I'm at a total loss because you risk everything," said Kealey as to why some
ignore the consequences and continue trying to bring the illicit material into
the country.
