Medicine Hat News
A preliminary hearing for an Oyen man facing child luring and pornography charges has been set for Dec. 3-4.
These hearing dates were officially set down Thursday at the Medicine Hat Provincial Courthouse for 18-year-oldAustin Palmer, who has elected to have his case heard by Court of Queen’s Bench judge and jury.
Palmer was charged following a joint investigation between the Oyen RCMP and Medicine Hat ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit.
Police say on Feb. 28, they were contacted by a parent who’d found concerning messages on her daughter’s cellphone between the her 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.
Charges include two counts of luring a child, possession of child pornography, accessing child pornography, distributing child pornography and failing to comply with probation order.
He was released on a $3,000 no-cash recognizance in May, with his father acting as a surety and requirements to remain under 24/7 house arrest in Oyen, and absolutely no access to electronics that would give him access to the Internet.
