Oyen child luring suspect given bail
By Peggy Revell on May 11, 2018.
prevell@medicinehatnews.com @MHNprevell Bail was granted Thursday to a young Oyen man facing child luring and pornography charges. A publication ban prevents the publishing of evidence or arguments presented during the bail hearing for 18-year-old Austin Palmer, who was arrested in March and remained in custody since then. Palmer was released on a $3,000 no-cash recognizance, with his father acting as a surety. Under his release conditions, he is required to be under 24/7 house arrest at his grandmother’s home in Oyen, with his father staying there on a nightly basis. As well, he is not allowed to access any sort of electronics that would give him access to the internet, nor is he allowed to contact or be in the presence of children under the age of 16 unless supervised. He also can’t be released until a land line is installed at this residence, to help enforce his compliance with release conditions. The accused was charged following a joint investigation between the Oyen RCMP and Medicine Hat ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit. Police say that on Feb. 28, they were contacted by a parent who had found concerning messages on her daughter’s cellphone between the daughter and an adult male. Palmer was arrested March 5, with a search warrant executed at his Oyen residence. A number of electronic devices were seized, while child pornography images were found during a forensic preview. Charges faced include two counts of luring a child, possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography, distributing child pornography and failing to comply with a probation order. The next court appearance is now set for June 5, as defence counsel waits to receive further disclosure and makes decisions on how to proceed. 11
-10
