Julien Pierre Marceau, 55, of Fredericton was arrested on August 16 after the CCGS Hudson returned to Dartmouth from a research trip to Bermuda.
A Canadian Coast Guard employee was arraigned in Dartmouth provincial court Tuesday on charges of bringing child pornography into the country.
Julien Pierre Marceau, 55, of Fredericton works as first engineer on the CCGS Hudson. He was arrested after the ship returned to Dartmouth from a research trip to Bermuda.
A search of Marceau’s cabin allegedly turned up sexual images of children on a USB thumb drive.
Marceau, who has been with the coast guard for more than 30 years, faces a Customs Act charge of smuggling prohibited goods and a Criminal Code charge of possessing child pornography.
Halifax lawyer Tom Singleton appeared in court Tuesday for Marceau, who was not present.
Crown attorney Tim McLaughlin said various electronic devices seized in the investigation are being analyzed.
Judge Dan MacRury scheduled the case to return to court in late November.
According to a search warrant, the Canada Border Services Agency opened an investigation in early August based on information it received from the Halifax Regional Police-RCMP Internet child exploitation unit.
A security officer with Fisheries and Oceans Canada had contacted police to report that a coast guard employee had used a government computer on the Hudson to access inappropriate Internet sites.
A police officer checked out about 30 of the 70 websites and determined that they were all related to child modelling. It is the officer’s experience that individuals who view those types of sites often seek out child pornography as well.
Border agents examined the vessel after it docked at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth. A thumb drive found in Marceau’s personal effects allegedly contained images of children “engaged in explicit sexual activity,” the warrant says.
An investigator with the border agency obtained a search warrant last month to seize three hard drives and another USB device that had been locked in a safe by a DFO security officer.
One of the hard drives was from the desktop computer in Marceau’s cabin, while the other two drives contained a copy of all activity on the computer during the voyage to Bermuda. The USB device resembled a cable and had been missed by a border agent during the August 16 search.
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Source: Local Xpress
