Two Red Deer men who were arrested as part of an Alberta-wide child-porn bust that yielded 7,000 photos and videos with victims who included infants have been sent to jail.
Darian Blanchard, 22, was sentenced last week to 12 months in jail and 18 months of probation for possession of child pornography.
READ MORE: 16 people arrested on child pornography charges in Alberta
Andrew Halliday, 29, was sentenced on the same charge in December to nine months behind bars followed by two years of probation.
Their arrests in July 2017 followed a three-month-long police investigation dubbed Operation Icebreaker which led to 16 arrests and a total of 56 charges.
Watch below: Det. Sean Spence gets emotional while describing the images and videos seized as part of an operation that led to 16 arrests.
More than 500 computers and electronic devices were seized when officers executed 25 search warrants.
Police said at the time that none of the cases investigated was connected other than being similar in nature.
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In additional to the Red Deer men, 11 arrests were made in Calgary, two in Airdrie and one in Strathmore.
Watch below: Investigators with ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation Team arrested 16 Alberta men after after a three-month investigation.
With files from Red Deer News Now.