A 20-year-old Yellowknife man was sentenced to five years in jail in NT supreme court on November 6th, 2023, after pleading guilty to transmitting child pornography, possession of child pornography and extortion between Sept 2021 and April 2022.
Chase Straker, who was 18 and 19 years old at the time of the offences, came to the attention of the Northwest Territories Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICE) on two occasions in 2021 for child pornography offences also known as child sexual abuse material (CSAM). A social media app was utilized by Straker to transmit CSAM and a cloud storage service for saving some of the material.
In April 2022 the NT ICE Unit with the assistance of Yellowknife detachment executed a search warrant at Straker's residence, which later resulted in the discovery of child sex abuse material on 2 of his seized cell phones. ICE also located sexualized chats between Straker and youths under the age of 18. One of the youths, a 15-year-old female from the U.S.A, was coerced into sending sexual images and videos which were then used against her in attempt to extort her for more of the material. Straker threatened to distribute the images and videos which included threatening to send them to the youth's mother.
The child sexual abuse material and chats on Straker's phones, were located through forensic examination and analysis. The CSAM material contained images and videos of prepubescent children and pubescent teens. These types of investigations are often complex and lengthy spanning several months or years which require investigation by experienced police officers within the Internet Child Exploitation Unit. With the assistance of the Canadian Center for Child Protection (C3P), victim and community impact statements were read during the sentencing on Nov 6th.
The Canadian Center for Child Protection is a national charity dedicated to the personal safety of all children. In addition to several other services, they have created support services for victims of online exploitation. C3P has learned through operating Cybertip.ca and other initiatives, that child sexual abuse material not only directly impacts survivors, it also dramatically alters their parents' family's lives. The link between the production, accessing, possession and transmitting of child sexual abuse material and the harm to children is never ending. Survivors of CSAM live with ongoing trauma for the rest of their lives, as they are continuously re-victimized every time another offender accesses, possesses and transmits the material after its production. They often live their lives in constant fear of offenders who have seen the CSAM, recognizing them, attempting to contact them, and in some cases, people stalking them or their families. Please visit www.protectchildren.ca to learn more about how to get involved in helping to support the important work C3P does as well to educate and advance your awareness and knowledge around the issue of child sexual abuse and online exploitation to help protect children.
In addition to the five-year jail sentence, Straker was sentenced to 10 years of a prohibition order with several conditions, some of which include to stay away from public parks, playgrounds and places were people under the age of 16 are expected to be present. He is not allowed to be alone in the presence of anyone under the age of 16 without another adult present who is aware of his convictions. Straker must not be employed or volunteer in any capacity that involves being in a position or trust towards teens under 16 and is banned from maintaining a social media profile, except for work purposes. He must not communicate online with anyone under the age of 16 and will be placed on the sexual offender registry for 20 years following his release from jail.