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High reported severity Involving minors Criminal Charges

Sherwood Park, Alberta: a 51-year-old man was charged on 25 September 2026 with making child sexual abuse material after Alberta's Internet Child Exploitation unit said he used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous children known to him, using photos posted on open social media accounts as source material

Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) said on 29 September 2026 that its Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit had charged a 51-year-old Sherwood Park man on 25 September with one count of making child sexual abuse materials covering numerous instances. The man had first been arrested on 25 June 2026, after reports that he shared child sexual abuse material online, and charged with possessing, accessing and transmitting such material; a forensic analysis of computers and devices seized from his home then found what ALERT describes as an extensive collection of manufactured child sexual abuse material. ALERT alleges he used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous victims known to him, taking posted photos from open social media accounts as his source material. Investigators believe there are numerous victims and are still identifying them. He was released on court-imposed conditions, including no communication with anyone under 16 and no attendance at public pools, schools, playgrounds or public libraries, and is due in Strathcona County court on 16 October 2026. Global News and CTV News Edmonton carried the release. The children are not identified and their number is not reported.

AI system
Unidentified image and video tool
Occurred
Event date unknown
Reported
29 September 2026
Event location
Canada
What the AI did
Depicted or impersonated the person
Reported harm
Exploitation or Abuse
Whose AI use
Someone else’s AI use
Setting
Privacy · Relationships
Evidence
AI involvement reported · Causal attribution alleged · 3 sources, 1 underlying account
3 claims: 3 reported. 6 open questions
People reported harmed
Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

AI system as recorded: AI applications used, according to ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation unit, to sexualise photos and videos of children taken from open social media accounts (tools not named)

What Happened

ALERT's news release of 29 September 2026 says a 51-year-old Sherwood Park man is accused of using artificial intelligence to make child sexual abuse materials and that its Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit believes there are numerous victims. He was charged on 25 September 2026 with one count of making child sexual abuse materials covering numerous instances. It was his second arrest: ICE first arrested him on 25 June 2026 following reports that he allegedly shared child sexual abuse materials online, and charged him then with possessing, accessing and transmitting such material. After that arrest, a forensic analysis of computers and electronic devices seized from his home found what ALERT calls an extensive collection of manufactured child sexual abuse materials. ALERT alleges he used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous victims who were known to him, taking advantage of open social media accounts and using posted photos as his source of material to alter. The investigation is ongoing and ICE is attempting to identify victims. He was released from custody on court-imposed conditions, including not to communicate with anyone under 16 and not to attend public pools, schools, playgrounds or public libraries, and is scheduled to appear in court in Strathcona County on 16 October 2026.

Global News (29 September) and CTV News Edmonton (29 September) carried the release; Global News notes earlier Alberta cases in which ALERT alleged AI was used to sexualise images, including two 14-year-old boys in Edmonton accused in June 2026 of making exploitative images of junior-high classmates. The release does not say which AI applications were used, how many children were depicted, whether the altered material was shared, or when it was made.

Reported harm

Photos and videos of numerous children known to the accused were sexualised with AI applications, using photos posted on open social media accounts as source material, according to ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation unit; he is charged with making child sexual abuse materials covering numerous instances.

Outcome

Pending

Charged by ALERT's ICE unit on 25 September 2026 with one count of making child sexual abuse materials covering numerous instances; earlier charged on 25 June 2026 with possessing, accessing and transmitting child sexual abuse materials; released on court-imposed conditions including no communication with anyone under 16 and no attendance at public pools, schools, playgrounds or public libraries; scheduled to appear in court in Strathcona County on 16 October 2026.

What remains unknown

  • Which AI applications were used.
  • How many children were depicted, who they are, and whether they or their families have been informed.
  • Whether the AI-altered material was shared or distributed.
  • When the altered material was made.
  • Whether he has entered a plea; the outcome of the charges.
  • Whether the earlier June 2026 charges concern material of the same children.

What the evidence supports

AI involvement: reported. ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation unit alleges in its news release that the man used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous victims known to him, using photos posted on open social media accounts as source material; Global News and CTV News Edmonton relay the same release. The applications are not named.

3 claims: 3 reported. What the statuses mean

Reported ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation unit alleges that the man used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous victims known to him, described by Global News as underage people he knows, taking posted photos from open social media accounts as his source material, and that a forensic analysis of devices seized from his home found an extensive collection of manufactured child sexual abuse material.

Causal attribution. Police allegation in a news release, relayed by two outlets; no court finding, and the accused has not entered a plea in the inspected sources.

  • alert-ab.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'is accused of using artificial intelligence to make child sexual abuse materials'; 'ICE discovered an extensive collection of manufactured child sexual abuse materials.'; 'allegedly used AI applications to sexualize photos and videos of numerous victims that were known to him.'; 'took advantage of open social media accounts and used posted photos as his source of material to alter.'
  • globalnews.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'sexualize images of underage people he knows'; 'The accused allegedly used AI applications to sexualize photos and videos of numerous victims that were known to him.'; 'ALERT said the accused took advantage of open social media accounts and used posted photos as a source of material to alter.'
  • ctvnews.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'is accused of using AI applications to sexualize photos and videos of victims known to him.'
Reported He was charged on 25 September 2026 with one count of making child sexual abuse materials covering numerous instances, having first been arrested on 25 June 2026 and charged with possessing, accessing and transmitting child sexual abuse materials; he was released on court-imposed conditions and is due in court in Strathcona County on 16 October 2026.

Causal attribution. Charge and court details as stated in the police release; the outlets repeat them.

  • alert-ab.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'was charged by ICE on September 25, 2026 on one charge of making child sexual abuse materials that cover numerous instances.'; 'He was initially arrested by ICE on June 25, 2026 following reports that he allegedly shared child sexual abuse materials online. At that time, he was charged with possessing, accessing, and transmitting child sexual abuse materials.'; 'was released from custody on a number of court-imposed conditions, including not to have any communication with anyone under the age of 16 and not to attend public pools, schools, playgrounds, or public libraries.'; 'He is scheduled to appear in court in Strathcona County on October 16, 2026.'
  • globalnews.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'initially arrested a 51-year-old man on June 25, following reports he allegedly was sharing child sexual abuse materials online.'
  • ctvnews.ca(opens in new tab) supports · English
    'He was released from custody on court-imposed conditions, including not to have any communication with anyone under the age of 16 and to not attend public schools, playgrounds or public libraries.'
Reported ALERT says it believes there are numerous victims and that the investigation is ongoing to identify them.

Causal attribution. Police statement; no count is given.

Sources

3 sources inspected, from 1 underlying account. Sources that repeat one account do not corroborate each other.

How the sources were read, and where the events happened

Read live on 2026-09-30 (ALERT news release dated 29 September 2026, Edmonton). The originating police account. Applies to s1.

Read live on 2026-09-30 (Global News, Karen Bartko, posted 29 September 2026). Relays the ALERT release and adds context on earlier Alberta AI-image cases; no independent reporting of this case. Applies to s2.

Read live on 2026-09-30 (CTV News Edmonton, Hannah Kavanagh, published 29 September 2026); the article text was taken from the page's structured data. Relays the ALERT release. Applies to s3.

Event countries: Canada. Affected-person countries: Unknown. Court countries: Canada.

The accused lives in Sherwood Park, Alberta, where devices were seized from his home; the charge is laid by Alberta's ICE unit and the case is before the court in Strathcona County, Alberta (ALERT release). Where the depicted children live is not stated, though ALERT says they were known to him.

Reviewed for publication 2026-09-30: Published as a core case (depicted_or_impersonated) consistent with existing AI child-abuse-image rows: Alberta's police child-exploitation unit alleges that a man used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous children known to him, using photos posted on open social media accounts as source material, and has charged him with making child sexual abuse material. The account is a single police chain (the ALERT release relayed by Global News and CTV); neither the accused nor any child is named here, and the charge is untested in court.

People described

Numerous children known to the accused whose photos and videos were allegedly sexualised with AI, using photos posted on open social media accounts as source material (not identified; investigators are still identifying victims)

People reported harmed in this case

Not reliably quantifiable from the sources

ALERT says it believes there are numerous victims and is still identifying them; no count is given, and image counts are not person counts. Unquantified, numeric placeholders 0.

Counted once within this case. The same person may appear in other cases. This count does not establish AI causation.

Tags

#ai-csam#deepfakes#children#alberta#sherwood-park#strathcona-county#criminal-charges

Cite this case

Compiled per our published methodology: verification statuses, sourcing standards, and corrections process.

APA

NOPE. (2026). Sherwood Park, Alberta: a 51-year-old man was charged on 25 September 2026 with making child sexual abuse material after Alberta's Internet Child Exploitation unit said he used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous children known to him, using photos posted on open social media accounts as source material. AI incidents. https://nope.net/incidents/2026-sherwood-park-alberta-man-charged-ai-sexualised-images-of-children-known-to-him

BibTeX

@misc{2026_sherwood_park_alberta_man_charged_ai_sexualised_images_of_children_known_to_him,
  title = {Sherwood Park, Alberta: a 51-year-old man was charged on 25 September 2026 with making child sexual abuse material after Alberta's Internet Child Exploitation unit said he used AI applications to sexualise photos and videos of numerous children known to him, using photos posted on open social media accounts as source material},
  author = {NOPE},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {AI incidents},
  url = {https://nope.net/incidents/2026-sherwood-park-alberta-man-charged-ai-sexualised-images-of-children-known-to-him}
}

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