WESTLOCK – Following a year-and-a-half RCMP investigation, a Westlock County couple now face 35 serious charges, ranging from making child pornography, to sexually assaulting a minor and failing to provide the necessities of life, in relation to “historical allegations” from 1999 to 2010.
In Westlock Provincial Court March 29, the man, age 67, and the 54-year-old woman, did not physically appear and were represented by an agent, Matt Ackerman, acting for lawyer Austin Corbett who asked that the case be set over to April 26 to receive and review Crown disclosure — Corbett will be representing the man and only appeared that day on behalf of the woman who will be getting her own attorney.
Judge Thomas Achtymichuk, who agreed to set the case over during the brief, two-minute appearance, also imposed a publication ban on the names of the co-accused to shield the identity of the victims following a request from Crown prosecutor Mark Facundo who stated that, “ … given the nature of the charges, there ought to be.”
A short release from the Westlock RCMP March 29 states the charges were laid Feb. 8 of this year following an 18-month investigation that “determined that there was sufficient evidence to charge the accused relating to historical allegations which occurred between 1999 and 2010” against multiple youth.
The man faces 25 charges, including three counts of sexual interference under Section 151 of the Criminal Code, which reads in part “every person who, for a sexual purpose, touches, directly or indirectly, with a part of the body or with an object, any part of the body of a person under the age of 16 years” and two charges under Section 152, an invitation to sexual touching with a minor, plus a single charge of making child pornography.
He also faces three charges under 161 (1)(A) which relate to voyeurism, three counts of sexual assault and one charge of permitting prohibited sexual activity by a minor under Section 171. Finally, he also faces three counts each of assault and assault with a weapon and two charges each of uttering death threats, failing to provide the necessities of life and abandoning a child.
Meanwhile, the woman faces three counts of abandoning a child, two charges each of failing to provide the necessities of life, assault with a weapon and unlawful confinement and a single charge of assault.
