Alberta judge rejects charter arguments ahead of child pornography trial
Richard Adamsky will stand trial in mid-August
A former Scout leader and Edmonton police emergency dispatcher has failed in a bid to have evidence excluded from his upcoming child pornography trial.
Richard Adamsky is charged with making, distributing and possessing child pornography.
On Tuesday in Edmonton Court of Queen's Bench, Adamsky's lawyer tried to convince Justice Nathan Whitling that his client's charter rights were violated when evidence against him was collected.
His four-day trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 15.
During the voir dire heard this week, Adamsky testified about an online encounter he had in a chat group with someone who identified themselves only as April A. In reality, that person was undercover Homeland Security Special Agent Scott Beagle.
Adamsky testified he had no way to confirm if the person was actually a female and that he had no way of knowing if the person he was communicating with was an undercover police officer.
Adamsky was at work in the Edmonton Police Service dispatch centre on March 19 last year when he logged into a group chat through a website called Taboo playground. He told the publicly accessible chat room, "Already at work…Emergency dispatch."
Over a few hours, Adamsky and the agent communicated about their likes, dislikes, where they worked and lived.
"Into everything," Adamsky wrote. "Special love for incest and littles."
Adamsky lied and said he lived in Devon. At the time, he lived in Sherwood Park.
"I lied a lot in these chats," Adamsky told the court.
When the agent tried to find out what police agency Adamsky worked for, he refused to say.
"Just given the content of our chats, I have to protect myself," a screen capture from the written exchange said.
The pair switched to a private chat.
Photos sent
Adamsky's lawyer argued that his client was the victim of entrapment. The judge dismissed that application. Whitling noted that it was the accused who first raised the prospect of sharing photos.
That prompted this exchange.
Adamsky: "So do you have any pics of your family?"
Agent: "I do. But don't give them out, given our lifestyle."
Adamsky: "Makes sense. I do have some of my niece. But only to exchange."
Agent: "Us too. But always get burned going first ha ha."
Adamsky: "I'm willing to go first."
Agent: "OK."
At that point, Adamsky began sending pictures.
Court was told that Adamsky shared three explicit images of a female with the face cropped from the photos.
He messaged, "I was just perving on her."
The Homeland Security Canadian attaché sent the screen captures unsolicited to Edmonton police.
Adamsky's lawyer argued that his client had a reasonable expectation of privacy when he shared those messages and images and that Edmonton police overstepped when they viewed the screen captures.
Whitling disagreed.
He found that Edmonton police were duty bound to review the information sent to them by Homeland Security and that it would make no sense for police to seek a warrant or production order just to view material provided to them by foreign officials.
Adamsky was arrested on April 1, 2020 at his Sherwood Park home, less than two weeks after he communicated online with the agent.
Adamsky remains free on bail. He is currently suspended without pay until the outcome of his criminal trial, police said Wednesday.
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