**** HRP Media Release
Police lay charges in child pornography and drug trafficking investigations
Police have charged a man in relation to a child pornography investigation which led to charges being laid in a subsequent drug trafficking investigation.
On June 16, investigators in the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit, of the Integrated Criminal Investigation Division conducted a search of a residence in Dartmouth after receiving information from the National Child Exploitation Coordination Center that a man had been sharing sexually explicit images of child online. Investigators seized a number of electronic devices for forensic analysis from the residence.
The search also revealed an illegal cannabis dispensary at the residence. Members of the Drug Unit of the Integrated Criminal Investigation Division conducted a subsequent search of the residence and seized quantities of:
- Cannabis plants
- Cannabis (dried and prepackaged)
- Cannabis edibles
- Hashish
- Lysergic acid diethylamide (LSD)
- Psilocybin
- Approximately 200 unidentified pills
- Approximately $1,300 in cash.
Officers arrested four men who were in the residence at the time of the searches.
A 24-year-old man is scheduled to appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court at a later date to face three counts each of possession of child pornography and distribution of child pornography.
The 24-year-old man and three other men, ages 39, 31 and 22, are scheduled to appear in Dartmouth Provincial Court at a later date to face charges of:
- Possession of cannabis for distribution
- Possession of cannabis for production
- Possession of cannabis for sale
- Possession of property obtained by crime
Anyone with information on child pornography is asked to file a report by calling police at 902-490-5020 or by using Cybertip, Canada’s National Tip Line for reporting online sexual exploitation of children, at www.cybertip.ca.
