Former foster parent admits to child sex abuse charges

Warning: This story contains graphic content readers may find disturbing.

A former Brandon foster parent has pleaded guilty to several child sexual abuse-related charges after he made and distributed sexual videos and photos of children in his care.

The man, 38, pleaded guilty to two counts each of sexual interference, making child sexual abuse material and distributing child sexual abuse material, along with a single count of possessing child sexual abuse material.

The victims’ identities are protected by a publication ban, which prohibits the publishing of any information that could identify them. The Sun is not naming the offender as it could identify the child victims.

An agreed statement of facts filed in Brandon provincial court on Tuesday outlined the man’s offences.

On Feb. 3, 2025, Brandon police learned that someone had been creating child sexual abuse material “depicting children who appeared to currently be in the care of the abuser.”

The Norwegian National Criminal Investigation Service advised the National Child Exploitation Centre of Canada (NCECC) that the material had been created and shared on the messaging app Telegram. A man was in custody in Norway in relation to the matter.

The NCECC requested and received information from Telegram, including an IP address that was linked to the man’s home address in Brandon.

Brandon police spoke with Child and Family Services, and they confirmed that the man and a woman living at the residence were foster parents to three children.

“Additionally, police learned that a home daycare was being operated in the residence,” the statement said.

When police arrested the man later that day, six children and the woman were in the home.

Police seized the man’s phone, along with other electronic devices.

In an interview with police, the man said he would “not do anything to hurt a child” and the material was on his phone so he could “find these people and help police out,” the statement said.

Police were provided with a video of Telegram conversations between the man, whose account was under a fake name, and the “unknown Norway user.”

In those conversations, which appeared to span from August 2024 to January 2025, the man self-identified as a “pedo” and “repeatedly indicated his enthusiasm for CSAM and child abuse, and discussing the sharing, viewing and receiving of CSAM from the other person in the said conversation,” the statement said.

The agreed statement of facts describes the material of two identified victims on the man’s phone — a two-year-old girl and an seven-year-old boy who were in his care.

Two nude photos of the girl were found on the man’s phone, along with more than 10 CSAM photos of her that he created and shared on Telegram.

Police also retrieved two videos of the girl, which were sent to the man in Norway. The videos depict the man touching the naked baby’s genitalia and masturbating.

“She looks upset, sad and about to cry,” the statement said in describing the victim in one of the videos.

Police found one video of the boy, during which he was performing oral sex on the man.

In relation to the possessing CSAM charge, 127 video media files categorized as CSAM were retrieved from the man’s phone.

The content included a bestiality video of a female child with a dog engaged in an explicit sexual act and sadism content photos with children.

In addition to the videos of the two identified victims, the statement said 131 CSAM videos and two CSAM images of “adult sexual exploitation of unknown children were shared between (the offender) and unknown person from Norway.”

The court ordered a pre-sentence report for the offender, which is expected to be completed by early March. The man’s matter will appear on an administrative docket in February, and no sentencing date has been set.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com