Child pornography with ‘extremely graphic abuse’ found on Edmonton man’s computer: ALERT

Warning: This story contains details readers may find disturbing.

Pornography depicting “extremely graphic abuse” and violence against young children was found on an Edmonton man’s computer, police in Alberta say.

A staff sergeant with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) says it “ranks amongst the worst” child sexual abuse material he’s ever seen.

Police say Jason Campbell, 44, was arrested at his west Edmonton home Nov. 9 following an investigation by ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit.

Investigators say computers and other electronic devices seized from the suspect’s home were analyzed, and child sexual abuse materials were found.

“The unfortunate trend we are seeing in our office is the escalation of the egregiousness of the child sexual abuse material located during our investigations, which causes our unit great concern,” Staff Sgt. Jonathan Morrison with ICE said in a news release.

“In relation to our investigations in the ICE unit, unfortunately there’s been a marked increase in egregiousness that is coming through our office and in a general scene the material is getting worse from what we’re looking at in what’s coming through our office – it includes up to and including abuse material where the child ends up being the victim of a homicide at the end.  So, that’s the level of material that is circulating on the internet.”

The ICE investigation began in September “as a priority file” after a tip from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children about a suspect sharing child sexual abuse materials online.

Campbell has been charged with possessing, distributing, and accessing child pornography. He was released from custody; his next scheduled court appearance is Nov. 24.

Campbell previously faced similar charges in connection to an ICE investigation in 2015. Police allege he was providing babysitting services in Edmonton at the time, and had been for 16 years prior.

A public notification was issued about him in November 2015.

WATCH: Campbell charged with child sexual exploitation offences in 2015

“Given the nature of the material and the prior history of the accused, ICE is concerned that Jason Campbell may have had access to children in the creation of child sexual abuse material,” added Morrison in Thursday’s release.

“We are working with the RCMP Victim Identification Unit, but I also want to encourage anyone to contact police with any information they may have in relation to this matter, or if their children had contact with Jason Campbell.”

Morrison added, “There is so much abuse material that circulates on the internet and the borderless nature of the internet there’s no geographic tie-in to these offenders is that it’s quite often we don’t know who these kids are, so part of our investigation in working with the RCMP victim identification unit is trying to identify the children in those materials to try in interdict in that abuse.”

“The material is terrible and we’ve seen it in our unit and I’ve watched abuse material recently that up to and including homicide of children in these acts so it’s tough and like I said, we’re seeing an increase in the severity, and egregiousness of what we’re seeing in that material.”

Morrison adds ALERT is using every possible tool to try and locate the children.

“This is an international problem that quite often we don’t know where they are and so we have this terrible circumstances of bearing witness to what is occurring to them through the abuse material, but we don’t always have the ability to reach in and pull them out of it.”

He advises parents to “be vigilant of what kids are doing online,” and urges parents to set ground rules and guidelines.

“We’re seeing within our unit, very young children involved in abusive material, and some of that is being captured by that themselves and put onto the internet at very young ages, so that education component and setting boundaries and rules within your household is really important to try and mitigate that risk.“

He says he’s not sure why there is an increase in the number of cases they’re seeing.

“To be honest I wish I knew and then it would be a lot easier to come up with a strategy around how to deal with it.”

He says it could be as simple as technology advancements and the ability for internet service providers around where this is circulating to detect it so they’re seeing more of it.

ICE units are also getting better staffed which means there are more investigations occurring in relation to these types of cases and through those investigations, they’re seizing larger collections of material which results in them viewing more material. Leading to an increase. 

He compares the internet to water, saying water can be fun and enjoyable and lots of good times can be had by children around pools and lakes, but says children can drown if they aren’t properly prepared.

He says before parents let children go into the deep end of pools or go into a body of water by themselves, they put them in swimming lessons teach them safety protocols around what to do in the water, and watch them at the pool. 

He says the internet is similar in that there needs to be risk mitigation — like having conversations with children and doing some training — that will help mitigate the risk on the internet.

“If we target the kids, the offenders have a hard time exploiting them and then hopefully we’ll see fewer intakes,” said Morrison.

“It’s concerning. I think it’s important for the public to realize we’re not dealing with material, not that it’s any less important to investigate, but these aren’t trivial posed pictures of kids in bathing suits.  What we’re seeing in our unit is hardcore violent sexual acts committed against children and young children. We’re not talking teenage children, in this case, I would estimate the ages, toddler age.”