Court documents obtained by The Sun show that Const. Andrew Ugrica was charged on Aug. 10 with one count of possession of child pornography.

Since then he has made two court appearances -- one on Sept. 12 and the other on Thursday -- but the Mounties had not publicly announced the charges.

"That one was not on my radar. This is the first I've heard of it," he said.

"Normally, with charges like that, we would put a [news] release out."

Indeed, over the past two years the Mounties have sent out at least a half-dozen releases on people being charged with possession of child pornography.

Lemaitre said he doesn't know why the force's Professional Standards unit, which investigated Ugrica, didn't tell him about the charges.

"I don't know if something fell through the cracks," he said.

City of North Vancouver Mayor Darrell Mussatto said the Mounties also didn't brief him about the case at the last police management committee meeting, which was held last week.

"I'll certainly be asking some questions on Monday when I get back to the office," he said.

Ugrica is suspended without pay, said Lemaitre.

Court records show that Ugrica is scheduled to appear in North Vancouver Provincial Court on Jan. 29 for an intended guilty plea.

However, Ugrica's lawyer, Jack Harris, said in a phone interview Friday that nothing is official "until a guilty plea is entered."

Harris refused to answer any other questions or put The Sun in touch with Ugrica.

"I'd instruct him not to speak," said Harris.

Harris is also the lawyer for Const. Khomphet (Kam) Khamphoune, a Richmond RCMP member who was charged with six counts in June after what police described as a lengthy child-pornography investigation.

Khamphoune was charged with tampering with evidence, breach of trust, and various firearms-related offences -- but no child-pornography charges.

He is scheduled to go to trial in Richmond on July 14.

Harris refused to say Friday whether the Ugrica and Khamphoune cases are connected.

Lemaitre said he didn't know if the two cases were related.

Ugrica is not the first B.C. police officer to be charged with child-exploitation offences.

In April, Adam Jonathan Clarke, a former Langley RCMP officer, received one day in jail and three years probation after he pleaded guilty to attempting to lure a 12-year-old Langley girl, and a 15-year-old Richmond girl through the website Nexopia while on duty.

And in July, former Vancouver police officer John Dragani was given a 12-month conditional sentence after pleading guilty to possession of child pornography.

(To read background documents related to this story, and other Vancouver Sun scoops, check out The Sun's Paper Trail blog at www.vancouversun.com/news/blogs.)

cskelton@png.canwest.com