Child porn distributor draws prison term
Last Updated: Friday, March 17, 2006 | 7:16 PM ET
CBC News
An Edmonton man who was at the centre of a huge international child pornography ring was sentenced Friday to 3½ years in prison.
Carl Treleaven, a 49-year-old shipping clerk, pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography after police caught him at his computer, and online with 90 clients, when they raided his home in January.
The sentence is believed to be the longest-ever given in Canada for that offence.
But that didn't satisfy one woman, who swore when the sentence was announced.
"How many others?" raged Cindy Roncin. "Look at those babies he had on his ... computer! They should have nailed his ass to the wall."
Alberta Provincial Court Judge Shelagh Creagh said she was tempted to
levy a longer sentence.
I have no doubt that you have shown yourself to be a danger to society," she
told Treleaven, who hung his head during most of the proceedings. "I am
tempted to impose a higher sentence."
But she was talked out of it by Crown prosecutor Steve Bilodeau, who argued that Treleaven had pleaded guilty and co-operated with investigators. "His information to investigators was part of the success that's been enjoyed by law enforcement all over the world," Bilodeau said.
His arrest enabled police to crack one of the biggest child porn rings in the world, leading to the announcement on Thursday that at least 40 people across Canada, the United States, Britain and Australia had been arrested.
Police said the photographs that Treleaven distributed to hundreds of clients contained the worst forms of child pornography, including images of adults having sex with children as young as 18 months and fathers raping their own children.
"I just look at pictures, I don't hurt anybody," Treleaven told police after he was arrested.
But the authorities begged to differ.
"The images sent around the world are the worst imaginable forms of child pornography," U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales told a news conference Thursday.
It was three years ago when Microsoft founder Bill Gates volunteered after Toronto police sought his aid in tracking down sophisticated internet users who were hiding their identity behind a web of computer camouflage.
Gates authorized Microsoft Canada to develop a porn-tracking search-engine at the cost of several million dollars.
Police used Microsoft's software to track down and arrest nine Canadians, 13 Americans, three Australians and two British citizens on Thursday. One of the key figures in the ring was arrested in Longueuil, Que. One of the Americans was a woman.
FROM MAR. 17, 2006: Technology led to child porn arrests
The internet ring came to light in 2005 when an Edmonton mother overheard two children discussing sexual abuse. She called police who arrested the stepfather. He subsequently pleaded guilty and was given 14 years in prison.
Edmonton police found that the man had posted images of his children on the internet under a false name. They followed up and discovered a child porn chat room that used false names and sophisticated software to hide the identity of the users.
"This was not picture-traders," Edmonton Det. Randy Wickins told the Globe and Mail. "These were real children in real homes that were being tortured. We couldn't just sit back and not do anything."
