Warning: this post contains details of child abuse
A Shellbrook man pleaded guilty to possessing nearly 500 child pornography files, including depictions of the sexual abuse of toddlers.
On Friday, a Prince Albert judge accepted 31-year-old Albert Craig Summerfeld’s pleas to one count each of possessing and accessing child pornograpy. He has already served 317 days in custody as the case wound its way through the court. The judge sentenced him to two years less a day in addition to that time.
The charges stem from a Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation Unit investigation. On October 11, 2016, officers were searching file sharing networks and observed Summerfeld’s mother’s IP address, which uniquely identifies the Internet connection in her home.
The address had been used to access eight child pornography files over the past two days.
Investigators got a search warrant for her Shellbrook home, where Summerfeld also lived. They moved in on December 20, 2016, and seized two laptops inside Summerfeld’s bedroom closet. A forensic search of the devices revealed four videos of child pornography and 495 child pornography images.
The files depicted a wide range of activities, according to an agreed statement of facts filed with the court. They ran the gamut from nude images of 14-year-old girls to “full penetration” of toddlers and six year olds.
The statement also noted that Summerfeld has a previous conviction for sexually assaulting a four year old in 2005.
Summerfeld will face three years probation upon his release from jail.
The probation order includes extensive conditions, requiring him to avoid all contact with minors under 16 and attend a sexual offender treatment program. He is forbidden from attending a playground, daycare or school ground and from possessing any device that can store data or access the Internet.
He will also need to register as a sex offender for the rest of his life.
