|
Gobeil,
Scott: O.P.P. abuses
his authority in the Smith
internet-porn "investigation." The warrant obtained
on Don Smith was worse than the one on Kelly | Kenora
police | Justin Carambetsos
| OPP Paul Gillespie
and Operation Snowball |
Porn Police
Doctor Cleared of Child
Porn Charges
Web Posted: 9/17/2004 12:52:02
PM
A doctor in Sioux Lookout is
clear of child pornography allegations. The Crown withdrew the
charge yesterday, three years after 51-year-old Leonard Kelly
was arrested.
At that time, provincial police
officers seized three computers, floppy disks and other equipment
during a raid. Kelly's arrest was part of a province-wide initiative
by the O.P.P's child-porn section dubbed Operation Snowball.
In total, a half-dozen people
were arrested on similar charges. The Ministry of the Attorney
General received information last week about the case. Spokesman
Brendan Crawley says the information used to obtain the search
warrant against Kelly was not valid.
Ordeal ends for Sioux
resident as Crown drops charges
By Janet Gibson for The
Enterprise Sioux
Lookout resident Leonard Kelly
is "happy the ordeal is over," his lawyer said after
Crown attorney Richard Cummine withdrew a charge of possession
of child pornography in Superior Court in Kenora, Sept. 13.
Defence lawyer David Gibson
added Kelly is, however, "deeply disappointed the process
took as long as it did."
The OPP laid the charge against
Kelly in October 2001.
The process ended when Cummine
told the court Monday, "The Crown can't proceed with this
prosecution... because of the validity of the warrants. The charge
is withdrawn."
OPP Det. Const. Taylore Hald,
who requested the search warrant from Thunder Bay Justice Di
Guiseppe March 23, 2001, offered no comment after court was adjourned.
A second detective, OPP Det. Const. Jeff Degen, walked out of
the courtroom as soon as Cummine made the statement. Hald referred
questions about the case to Cummine, who said in an interview
he'd received information about the search warrant. His decision
to withdraw the charge was influenced by an acquittal in a child
pornography case investigated by the OPP and heard Sept. 3 in
Superior Court in Barrie, Ont., an outcome he found out about
Sept. 8.
Cummine used the words "misinformation"
and "misrepresented at best" when describing the warrants.
"We have laws and you
have to abide by them," Cummine said. "When you search
someone's house you have to abide by them in that kind of intrusive
search."
"The Crown has made a
decision to withdraw the charge," Gibson said. "My
client has lost his opportunity to defend himself. Most people
understand you're innocent until you're proven guilty."
He explained when a peace officer
appears before a judicial officer to request a search warrant,
they present a sworn affidavit saying, "This is what we
think we know. If you allow us to search, we will find evidence
of a crime at that place. The judge doesn't accept the peace
officer's rational grounds. The judge double checks their reasoning."
In the case against Kelly,
Hald swore in an affidavit the OPP wanted to search Kelly's Visa
records on the grounds Kelly had used his Visa card to purchase
child pornography over the Internet.
The OPP said they'd been given
information on the purchases by police in Dallas, Texas.
Gibson said, "I began
asking, 'Show me the information from Dallas that confirms the
web sites contain child pornography.' I didn't get any information."
Cummine, however, received
information in May 2004 provided by a U.S. postal inspector that
revealed the authorities didn't have any "definite information"
on the sites.
Further, Gibson said Hald swore
to the information on the search warrant but it was Degen who
had written it based on information he'd received from the police
in Dallas.
After getting the search warrant,
the OPP searched Kelly's Visa records, computer and house.
"This warrant should have
never been issued," Gibson said.
"Everyone the least bit
interested in privacy protection should be outraged by what is
happening here."
Raise age of consent,
child porn officer says
Jan. 17, 2003
If Canada wants to effectively
fight child pornography, it must raise the age of consent to
at least 16, an investigator with the Ontario Provincial Police
told CTV's Canada AM.
Sgt. Bob Matthews of the OPP
child pornography crime unit told Canada AM that they've been
advocating for some time that the rules regarding age of consent
be raised from the current age of 14.
"It seems to be falling
on deaf ears," Matthews said. "That is a must. I think
it would go a long way to help us."
His comments come one day after
police announced a massive global pornography investigation has
uncovered links to more than 2,300 people in Canada.
The Canadian probe, which involves
30 police agencies at all levels of government, has been dubbed
Operation Snowball and is linked to the same bust that led to
the arrest of The Who guitarist Pete Townshend in Britain.
Despite a lengthy investigation,
police say there have been few arrests.
"We in Canada have been
working on this for just over two years. We have (more than)
2,000 suspects and we have arrested five per cent them,"
Det.-Sgt. Paul Gillespie, who heads up the Toronto police force's
sex crime unit, told a news conference Thursday.
In all, the Canadian probe
had led to 32 arrests and a total of 42 charges laid. In contrast,
the British investigation has netted 1,300 people out of a list
of 7,000.
Matthews told Canada AM that
the police simply don't have the resources to go after child
pornographers. He worries about the number of children who are
being victimized.
"We find that roughly
25 per cent ... of individuals we arrest are actual child molesters,"
he said. "When you look at this list overall, how many potential
children out there are being targeted and being victimized?"
New legislation, Bill C-20,
has just been tabled but still needs to be debated. It suggests
that if pornography is being made by an adult who is somehow
exploiting the child, then that would be deemed illegal. However,
there is still some debate on the definition of "exploiting."
Mark Erik Hecht, a lawyer and
children's rights advocate, said Bill C-20 is only trying to
"plug some of the loopholes" created by the case of
John Robin Sharpe decision.
Sharpe was convicted on two
counts of possessing pornographic photographs depicting children
but cleared of his writings that describe various sexual acts
involving children. The case also found that any legal consensual
activity, even between a 14-year-old and an adult, that is videotaped
or recorded is legal if there is consent.
"I think that the Supreme
Court gave us a pretty strong indication of how they feel about
the Charter Rights of alleged offenders in the Sharpe case,"
Hecht said.
"Essentially they said
that when it comes to trying to balance between Charter Rights
of an alleged offender and a child's right, we're going to find
in favour of the offender's rights," he said. "And
I find that quite disturbing."
Hecht agreed that raising the
age of consent would help, saying the case involving Sharpe tied
the age of consent to child pornography.
"I think one thing that
could happen, which might help in future cases regarding production
issues around child pornography is raise the age of consent in
Canada," he told Canada AM.
"The federal government
has refused to do that despite the strong advocacy efforts of
parents and teachers and lawyers."
© Copyright 2004
Bell Globemedia Inc.
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Truth can never be
told so as to be understood, and not be believ'd.