Ex-Alberta Party candidate, 9 others arrested in online child exploitation investigation

Ten people including a former leadership candidate for the Alberta Party are facing charges following a child exploitation investigation.

The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) said the investigation, launched in November 2015, focused on high-level targets that were sharing and distributing “vast collections” of child sexual exploitation photos and videos.

Over the past eight months, investigators conducted 30 search warrants across southern Alberta, seizing 285 computers, mobile devices and storage drives.

Police said about half of the devices seized have been analyzed so far, representing 40 terabytes of data and nearly 50,000 photos and videos of children being sexually abused.

“Some of the victims in the photos are estimated to be as young as six months,” ALERT said in a news release, adding the photos depict “extreme sexual abuse.”

At this point of the investigation, investigators don’t believe any of the victims are from Alberta, or that any hands-on offences depicted took place in the province.

WATCH:Two men from Lethbridge and three men from Medicine Hat are facing child exploitation charges after an eight-month long investigation. Allie Miller reports.

2:12 2 men from Lethbridge among 10 arrested in online child exploitation investigation

Of the suspects arrested, five were from Calgary, including Troy Millington, 45, who unsuccessfully challenged for the Alberta Party‘s leadership in 2013. ALERT spokesperson Mike Tucker said Millington’s February 2016 arrest was one of the first in the operation. He said the most recent arrest was last week.

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“Millington’s membership and involvement in any capacity with the Alberta Party ceased over one year ago,” party spokesperson Meagan Wade told Global News Wednesday.

The other suspects from Calgary were:

• William Norn, age 68
• Robert Thompson, age 33
• Gabriel Pereira, age 42
• Oscar Asensio, age 41

Two suspects were from Lethbridge, including:

• John Tulloch, age 25
• Robert Rogers, age 42

Three suspects were from Medicine Hat, including:

• Stefan Mogck, age 35
• Michael Henderson, age 68
• Victor Rahal, age 52

None of the accused individuals are considered to be in positions of public trust and/or authority.

Anyone with information about this investigation, or any child exploitation offence, is encouraged to contact local police or contact cybertip.ca.

With a file from Global’s Erika Tucker