Fort McMurray Man Charged with Child Porn Offences

Fort McMurray… A 50-year-old man from Fort McMurray is facing child pornography charges, following an investigation by Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT).

Phil Walding, an employee of the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, is charged with possession of child pornography and accessing child pornography. Walding is Chief Taxi Inspector of the Bylaw Services Branch at the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, and worked out of the Wood Buffalo RCMP Detachment offices.

ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit, an integrated team consisting of RCMP and Edmonton Police Service members, made the arrest on July 9. A search warrant was executed at the accused’s Fort McMurray home with the assistance of Wood Buffalo RCMP.

The investigation dates back to June of this year after ALERT received information from the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre (NCECC) concerning a Fort McMurray resident suspected of uploading images depicting child sexual exploitation to a website in the U.S.

At this point of the investigation ALERT does not believe any of the charges are connected to his employment with the municipality.

Anyone who may have additional information on this or any other child exploitation offence is encouraged to contact their local police, Crime Stoppers or Cybertip.ca.

ALERT was established and is funded by the Alberta Government and is a compilation of the province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources committed to tackling serious and organized crime. Members of Alberta Sheriffs, Calgary Police Service, Edmonton Police Service, Lethbridge Regional Police Service, Medicine Hat Police Service, and RCMP work in ALERT.

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