A 48-year-old Abbotsford man has been charged with six child pornography offences.
Crown Counsel approved the charges Thursday after police arrested Donald Kenneth Petne, an Abbotsford tow truck driver.
In March 2012, the Abbotsford Police Department’s major crime unit began investigating Petne, who had allegedly been using the Internet and communicating over social media and via chat rooms in order to obtain and exchange child pornography.
Some of these alleged conversations were with law enforcement officers.
On June 20 at about 10 a.m., the police made the arrest and then executed a search warrant. Const. Ian MacDonald said evidence, including electronic devices, was seized.
MacDonald said the investigation was the result of collaborative efforts of the Abbotsford Police and its law enforcement partners.
“Police, regardless of their jurisdiction, will work together to combat crimes like these against children, which take place in the vast landscape that is the Internet," he stated in a press release.
“We hope that this incident serves as a reminder to parents that Internet safety is imperative as there are individuals seeking to target children. We also believe this is a further illustration that people you meet via the Internet, in chat rooms and on social media sites, may not be who they seem."
Petne, who has no previous criminal record, was charged with two counts of possessing child porn, two counts of counselling an indictable offence not committed, and one count each of importing or distributing child porn and making or publishing child porn.
He has been was released from custody on $5,000 bail. He next appears Monday in Abbotsford provincial court.