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A former youth basketball volunteer and Government of Alberta employee has pleaded guilty to possessing hundreds of images of child sex abuse — including on his work laptop.
Ronald Feniuk was in Edmonton Court of King’s Bench Wednesday to plead guilty to a count of possession of child pornography. His case is next in court Nov. 1 to set a date for sentencing.
According to an agreed statement of facts read in court by prosecutor Craig Krieger, an internet service provider alerted police that one of their users in Stony Plain had accessed child porn using their system.
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Police searched Feniuk’s home on Jan. 19, 2023, and seized two phones and his work laptop.
One of the phones contained two videos deemed to be child pornography, stored on the encrypted chat service Telegram. It was not possible to determine whether Feniuk’s phone sent or received the images, Krieger said.
The second phone contained 38 images of child sex abuse found in a cache folder. The images had been deleted from the device’s photo gallery by the time it was seized by police.
The laptop, meanwhile, contained 381 images and three videos. As was the case with the second phone, almost all the original images were deleted, although a cache folder retained thumbnail-size copies of the material.
Krieger said the files depict sexual assaults of young girls, as well as girls under the age of 12 in sexualized poses.
Feniuk was set to go to trial before Justice Shaina Leonard Tuesday but proceedings were delayed while Crown and defence worked out a guilty plea.
Feniuk worked in the Alberta ministry of forestry and agriculture. Postmedia reached out to the province about his current employment status but did not hear back by press time.
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He volunteered for Parkland Basketball, which said he was “removed indefinitely” after the organization learned of the charges on Jan. 26, 2023.
“Parkland Basketball remains diligent in protecting our members,” the organization said in a statement. “We have been assured that at no time were any of our members exploited by this individual’s conduct. All charges are independent of any Parkland Basketball athlete, member, or affiliate.”
Scouts Canada confirmed Feniuk volunteered with the organization between 2012 and 2019. A spokesperson said Feniuk was subject to a police record check every three years and met the screening requirements when he worked with the organization. “There was no indication from (police) that Scouting youth were put at risk,” the spokesperson said.
Feniuk was initially charged with both possessing and transmitting child pornography. His lawyer, Kristofer Advent, told court his client is currently receiving treatment.
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