Eckville man pleads guilty to child sexual exploitation charges

A central Alberta man has admitted to committing sex exploitation crimes against children.

The 35-year-old man from Eckville, whose name is subject to publication ban, pleaded guilty in Red Deer provincial court on Wednesday to 26 of the 80 counts against him for offences dating from February of 2010 up to his arrest on January 10 of this year.

He pleaded guilty to multiple counts of sexual assault, sexual contact with a minor, sexually counselling a minor, possessing child pornography, making/printing/publishing child pornography, and distributing/selling child pornography.

The man was arrested after police in Australia tipped off the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit about a suspect involved in the online sharing of child pornography. More than a million photos and videos were then recovered when police searched homes in Eckville and Fox Creek.