EDMONTON – A 42-year-old was arrested and charged after allegedly looking at child pornography on a computer at an Edmonton library.
Daniel Kelbert is accused of looking at child porn at the Woodcroft Library on Feb. 19 when he was confronted by an employee. Staff called police but Kelbert fled the scene before officers arrived, police said.
“What he was viewing I would describe as very explicit images of children in sexual positions,” Staff Sgt. Paul Czerwonka with the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s Northern Alberta Child Exploitation Unit said.
“This incident happened right beside where the children congregate so that was kind of concerning to me.”
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ALERT took over the investigation, and was able to identify the man with the help of the Edmonton Public Library, ALERT said. Because a library card is needed to log on to all EPL computers, it was quickly determined who police were looking for.
“We do take privacy and confidentiality very seriously and only in very exceptional cases like this would (we) resort to connecting the usage or the websites that have been explored with the actual identification of the customers,” EPL CEO Pilar Martinez said.
Kelbert was arrested at his north Edmonton home March 10 by ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation team.
The incident has raised questions about why this type of material can be access at publicly-funded computers. The library does not have content filters, which is part of a mandate of intellectual freedom.
“EPL is committed to providing barrier-free access to computers and computer training to all Edmontonians,” Martinez said.
“However, we do not support or condone the use of resources for illegal activity and work closely with law enforcement to eliminate this behaviour.”
Czerwonka said library staff members were instrumental in leading officers to the arrest.
“Without their intervention it could have been a lot worse, it could have been undetected and it could have continued.”
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Kelbert was charged with possessing and accessing child pornography. He was also wanted for a previous parole violation.
He’s been remanded in custody and is waiting to make a court appearance.
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