NEWS FILE PHOTO The Medicine Hat Courthouse is seen in this file photo.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com@MHNJeremyAppel
A 26-year-old man previously accused of various sexual offences, including bestiality, had four additional charges laid against him last week that allege he was actively involved in creating child pornography.
Cody Herrell’s defence counsel Sarah Lewans appeared on his behalf at provincial court Thursday, where the new charges against him were read into the record.
In addition to the initial counts of bestiality, possessing, accessing and distributing child pornography, and sexual assault, Herrell is accused of making child pornography, sexual touching of a minor, inviting sexual contact with a minor and child luring.
Medicine Hat Police Service Sgt. Kirt Murray of ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit told the News the new charges came about as a result of new evidence found during the “forensic examination of electronic devices” police seized when they executed a search warrant on Herrell’s residence in late-September 2019.
The timeline for the various offences he’s charged with varies, but as a whole range from Oct. 24, 2014, to Sept. 26, 2019.
“The date ranges coincide with the evidence seized from the devices, so if there was some type of data contained within an image that gave me a time of when the image was created, then that would lend itself to the date of the offence,” Murray explained. “If there were multiple images, or multiple pieces of evidence, then the date range would be the start date and end date of the evidence that coincides with the charge.”
At the time of his arrest on the initial round of charges, police said they were looking for a then-unidentified child victim who they believed was known to the accused.
The additional charges were sworn Feb. 7.
None of the allegations against Herrell have been substantiated in court. His next appearance is scheduled for Feb. 27.
