Child pornography nets Lethbridge man jail time

By Delon Shurtz on April 30, 2021.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDdshurtz@lethbridgeherald.com

A Lethbridge man caught with hundreds of photos of child pornography and nearly a dozen videos, has been sent to a federal penitentiary.
Brandon Gerardo Bran Eguizabal, 27, who pleaded guilty in February to one count of possession of child pornography, was sentenced Wednesday in Lethbridge provincial court to two years in prison.
Crown Prosecutor Michelle Tai told court Lethbridge police searched a northside home at which Eguizabal was living on June 4, 2020, and he admitted possessing and receiving child pornography from other online users through chats and text messaging. Police seized eight electronic devices and found child pornography on three of them.
“In total, there were 570 child pornography images and 19 videos found,” Tai told Judge Jerry LeGrandeur during Wednesday’s sentencing hearing.
Tai said children depicted in the graphic photos are between two and 15 years old, while children in the videos are between six and 13 years old. 
Police were first alerted after Google submitted a report Feb. 18 of last year to the United States National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) for user Brandon Bran, who had 13 child pornography images stored on Google Photos.
The NCMEC is a non-profit organization that operates the Cyber Tipline and Child Victim Identification Program, to help law enforcement and others identify and rescue victims of child pornography and child sexual exploitation.
Eguizabal was one of 18 Albertans — three from Lethbridge — who were flagged by the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Co-ordination Centre, which works with internet and social media providers to track and investigate online instances of child sexual exploitation. The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team’s Internet Child Exploitation unit began an investigation and arrested suspects last spring.
Police said at the time there are no links between the suspects other than the nature of the charges.
Of the two other Lethbridge men caught in the pornography sting, Yonatan Castro Linares, was handed a jail sentence after he pleaded guilty late last year to a charge of possession of child pornography. The third man, Alas Hernandez, who previously pleaded guilty to one count of distributing child pornography, is set to be sentenced next month.
In addition to his prison sentence, Eguizabal must register with the Sex Offender Information Registry for 20 years, submit a sample of his DNA for the National DNA Databank, and adhere to several court-ordered prohibitions that for six years prevent him from going to certain areas frequented by anyone under the age of 16. He is allowed, however, to go to swimming pools and parks if he is with another adult.
He is not allowed to work, or even look for work, or volunteer in any capacity that involves being in a position of trust or authority to anyone under the age of 16, and he isn’t allowed to have any contact with anyone under the age of 16 unless he is with another adult.
Eguizabal is also prohibited from accessing any content on the Internet or other digital network that violates the law, and if he accesses social media sites or Internet forums he must use his legal name.
Lethbridge lawyer Darcy Shurtz told court Eguizabal is remorseful and “realizes the significance of these offences that he’s committed.”
He said his client, who does not have a previous criminal record and is a low risk to re-offend, still has the support of his family, and plans to receive counseling and treatment while he is in custody. He pointed out the Crown had recommended an 18-month jail sentence, but Eguizabal opted to serve a federal term, which won’t increase the actual amount of time he’ll spend in custody, but will provide more opportunities for counseling and other federal services.
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