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Man sentenced for child pornography possession

Dunbar, 67, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography in Supreme Court in Williams Lake and was sentenced the following day.

A year and a half after he was charged with possession of child pornography after a nation-wide investigation, Murray Dunbar of Williams Lake has been sentenced to six months in jail, three years probation and received a 10-year ban from entering places frequented by children under the age of 18.

Dunbar, 67, pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on Oct. 27 in Supreme Court in Williams Lake and was sentenced the following day.

Dunbar was one of 11 men charged in B.C. in June 2014 following a lengthy child pornography investigation called Operation Snapshot III.

The operation, which began in February 2014, involved 40 police agencies across the country.

It was co-ordinated by the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre (NCECC) and targeted offenders who collect, possess, share, make available, distribute and produce child sexual exploitation material online.

Originally Dunbar faced two counts, however, Crown entered a stay of proceedings on the second count of importing or distributing child pornography, said Neil MacKenzie, spokesperson for the Crown.

His preliminary trial was scheduled to begin Nov. 2.

During Operation Snapshot III 167 investigations were conducted by municipal, provincial and federal police services, resulting in the seizure of hundreds of computers and hard drives along with nearly two million images or videos.

The NCECC provided training to officers located in various Internet Child Exploitation units and other officers who had not dealt with this type of investigation previously.

There were more than 150 arrests made across Canada as a result of the operation.

Operation Snapshot III followed two previously successful operations: Operation Snapshot in 2012, targeted individuals in the Prairie and Northern regions of Canada, and Operation Snapshot II in 2013, focused on individuals in Atlantic Canada.

The Canadian Center of Child Protection and Cybertip.ca provide invaluable educational material and information on reporting these crimes.

The Public Safety website Getcybersafe.gc.ca also has important information about protecting yourselves and children online.



Monica Lamb-Yorski

About the Author: Monica Lamb-Yorski

A B.C. gal, I was born in Alert Bay, raised in Nelson, graduated from the University of Winnipeg, and wrote my first-ever article for the Prince Rupert Daily News.
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