RCMP Charges Sask. Const. with Accessing, Possessing Child Porn

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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The RCMP has announced to have charged a constable in northern Saskatchewan, 31-year-old Aiden Arthur Pratchett, with child pornography charges in conclusion of a months-long investigation. Const. Pratchett was arrested on Monday in Fond du Lac by the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit. The RCMP officer with four-year service was charged with accessing child pornography and possession of child pornography.

During a press conference on Tuesday, RCMP superintendent, Alfredo Bangloy, stated that “when something like this happens, it’s very disturbing,” adding that “we have a high standard of conduct and members are expected to abide by that” A four-year veteran with the RCMP, Pratchett, was suspended on Oct. 16 after ICE unit investigators executed a search warrant at his home and seized several computer devices. Thereafter, Pratchett was removed from the community and suspended with pay. Bangloy confirmed that removing him from the area was done “to protect the integrity of the investigation.” Although the charges weren’t laid at first, they were laid as soon as the evidence was found to charge Pratchett.

Head of the ICE Unit, Staff Sgt. Ron Weir, confirmed that the investigation was triggered after a member of the ICE unit began tracking an IP address that accessed child pornography, which led to Pratchett. The electronics confiscated from Pratchett’s home were personal devices and not RCMP-owned devices. Additional charges might be laid after a forensic investigation of the seized devices. Weir stated that “there is still a lot of investigation to do. It’s very technical work.”