An Edmonton-area man arrested with an arsenal of guns and explosives after an RCMP national security investigation will soon learn whether he is guilty of possessing images of child sex abuse.
Kelvin Maure’s trial on a single count of possession of child pornography concluded in Edmonton Court of King’s Bench Monday with closing arguments from Crown and defence.
Prosecutor Craig Krieger said investigators found 1,193 images and 33 videos of child sex abuse when they searched Maure’s devices following an investigation by the RCMP’s Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET).
INSET began monitoring Maure after he posted photos of guns and ammunition on a 4chan message board — including photos of himself with an AK74 rifle at a local power station. Maure also displayed what one judge called a “potential association or fascination with extreme right-wing groups that have fascistic or neo-Nazi predilections” in some of the posts.
Defence lawyer Jordan Titosky said the Crown hasn’t proven beyond a reasonable doubt that Maure knew he had the child sex abuse images, saying they were contained in large caches of non-criminal content, some of which was compressed in ZIP files.
Maure, 29, sat in the prisoner’s box wearing orange and black coveralls. He is serving a six-year sentence for the weapons and explosives charges and was recently denied parole.
Justice Steven Mandziuk reserved his decision on Maure’s guilt for a later date.
‘Some and not none’
Maure posted under the 4chan moniker “Moleman,” an apparent reference to his tunnelling project on his father’s Parkland County property. Maure built a “bunker” in the yard, which police carefully searched for booby traps after Maure’s Feb. 13, 2021, arrest.
The arrest came after an extensive police surveillance operation that started when “Moleman” posted about blowing up power lines and infiltrating the Keephills power plant using a disguise. Maure spent the day prior to his arrest driving through the countryside shooting at signs, trees and oil and gas infrastructure. He earlier posted he was “going to do something to get more guns banned.”
At the time of this arrest, Maure was carrying a loaded handgun with a round chambered in a concealed holster, along with two loaded assault rifles and 11 high capacity magazines in his truck.
Detectives searched Maure’s father’s home and found erythritol tetranitrate and triacetone triperoxide (TATP), used for making explosives, along with a number of fuses.
A search of his mobile devices later turned up child sex abuse material.
Krieger said that all Mandziuk needs to convict Maure is proof beyond a reasonable doubt that he had child porn in his possession.
“As long as it’s some and not none, he’d be guilty,” the prosecutor said.
Krieger dismissed the possibility Maure unwittingly downloaded the material as part of a larger package and remained ignorant of its contents.
“Nobody has that much bad luck,” he said. “There are over 1,000 images, 33 videos on two different devices, downloaded on four different dates.”
Titosky urged the court not to convict his client. For Maure to be found guilty, the Crown must prove Maure had not only control of the files, but “knowledge” of their existence.
He said the files came from “generic file hosting servers” like MEGA. There is no evidence what Maure searched to bring him to the specific packages, which contained files with “cryptic” names.
“Essentially we have a box, that comes from a generic website, with no indication as to what the contents are,” Titosky said. “The defence would submit that box was never touched, never opened.”
“After examination, we now know what’s in that box. But there’s nothing to show the user did.”
Parole denied
Maure was denied day parole on the weapons charges in May.
The parole board concluded that while Maure is a “low” risk to offend, releasing him still poses an “undue” risk to the public. It noted Maure remains in medium security after two incidents involving cannabis and homemade prison alcohol, which suggests he still has unhealthy coping mechanisms.
Maure initially said he does not regret possessing weapons and explosives, “just that (he) posted the information online.” He has since said he regrets “all” of his actions.
“In discussing your attitude and ideology you noted that you have changed your worldview and outlook,” the parole board said. However, while Maure said he realizes his anger was “unfounded and misdirected,” he still struggles to explain why he engaged in some of his illegal behaviour.
Maure said he had trouble making friends as a kid because he changed schools often. He met a “small group” of people online with whom he went camping and shooting. “You knew that these individuals held nationalist socialism/white supremacy and anti-police/anti-government views,” the board wrote. “You were aware of who you were associating with and wanted to be involved.”
Maure has not disclosed the whereabouts of some of the weapons and explosives, the parole board added.
While in prison, Maure has completed his Grade 12 and is taking welding courses. His case is next in court Oct. 4 to set a date for Mandziuk’s decision.
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