By rdnewsNow.com staff

Not Guilty

Drayton Valley man cleared of sex-related charges

May 15, 2019 | 9:37 AM

A Drayton Valley man facing child pornography offences has been found not guilty on all counts.

Yousef Ammar, 43, was cleared of sexual assault, sexual contact with someone under 16, distribute/sell child pornography and possess child pornography charges in Drayton Valley Provincial Court on Tuesday.

Elsewhere, a second Drayton Valley man charged in the eight-month long ALERT investigation, Wilson Misay, 39, will have a preliminary hearing in July to see if his case has enough evidence to go to trial.

Police say the two cases however are unrelated.

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The arrests took place as part of a proactive initiative by ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit that targeted suspects allegedly trying to arrange for sex with children.

A total of 69 charges were laid against 13 people, with arrests taking place between February and October of last year.

The arrests involved numerous law enforcement agencies and took place in Edmonton, St. Albert, Wainwright, Drayton Valley, Fort Saskatchewan, and Barrie, Ontario.

Police say three suspects based in the United States were also identified, and ICE forwarded that information to its law enforcement counterparts south of the border.

ALERT says none of the investigations are related to each other apart from the similar nature of the offences, adding the alleged crimes took place online, with a range of social media platforms and communications tools being used.

The ICE unit based in Edmonton is comprised of investigators from Edmonton Police Service and RCMP, as well as civilian forensic technicians.

Nearly 50 computers and electronic devices were seized and analyzed as part of the arrests.

Anyone with information about this investigation or any child exploitation offence is encouraged to contact local police or cybertip.ca.

(With file from ALERT media release)