Former Sudbury reporter Callam Senyk-O’Flanagan (also known as Callam Rodya) had 464 images of child sexual abuse on his computer, and at least one video, when he was arrested on Feb. 14, 2019.
Senyk-O’Flanagan, 35, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to one count of committing an indecent act by making child sexual abuse material available to the public through the use of digital file-sharing software. When he was arrrested on Feb. 13, 2019, he was charged with two counts of accessing, five counts of possession and three counts of making available child pornography.
Senyk-O’Flanagan is being represented by Toronto lawyer Michael Lacy.
Assistant Crown attorney Christina Croteau told the court Tuesday that multiple computers and storage devices were seized from Senyk-O’Flanagan’s apartment on Riverside Drive on Feb. 13, 2019.
On Nov. 15, 2018, an officer with the cyber crime division was reviewing his undercover operation on a file-sharing network and had found that an IP address, which ultimately led to Senyk-O’Flanagan’s apartment on Riverside Drive, was sharing child sexual abuse material.
In this case, the file-sharing software being used on the suspect computer had a global unique identifier (GUID), which is specific to a computer device using this software to access the file-sharing network.
“It is similar to a fingerprint for a computer device accessing the file-sharing network,” said Croteau.
Police had also downloaded partial child sexual abuse videos from the suspect computer with this GUID on Nov. 2 and Nov. 14, 2018.
In each case the IP address was different, but the GUID was the same, meaning it was the same computer device.
“(Greater Sudbury Police Service) Det.-Const. (Chris) Kerr viewed each of the videos and confirmed they were child pornography as defined by the Criminal Code of Canada,” said Croteau.
On Nov. 16, 2018, a justice of the peace granted a production order, compelling the internet service provider to disclose subscriber information for the suspect IP address.
On Nov. 20, 2018, those records were provided to police, and indicated the computer used in the downloading of child sexual abuse material was at an address on Riverside Drive. That apartment was the residence of Senyk-O’Flanagan, and an investigation revealed he had accessed the internet during one of the occasions that child sexual abuse material was being downloaded.
On Feb. 12, 2019, a justice of the peace granted a search warrant for Senyk-O’Flanagan’s apartment.
Officers executed the search warrant on Feb. 13, 2019. Senyk-O’Flanagan was home at the time. He was arrested and charged with various child pornography offences, as well as a charge for drug possession, which has subsequently dropped earlier this year.
Following his arrest, he was granted bail.
Senyk-O’Flanagan was a reporter at CTV News in Sudbury when he was arrested. He had previously worked for Sudbury.com.
The sentencing hearing will happen Dec. 2 at 9:30 a.m. An ESP technological report has been ordered to determine if electronic monitoring will be available at the time of sentencing.
