An Airdrie man accused of several child-pornography-related charges including convincing a nine-year-old American girl to make him sexually explicit videos was sentenced to three and a half years in prison on Nov. 11.
On March 6, Robert James Tyndall pled guilty to one count of possession of child pornography and one count of luring a child to commit a sexual offense. Tyndall entered the pleas in Calgary Criminal Court.
The charges stem from August 2013 when Tyndall, 43, was charged with seven child-pornography-related offenses.
Tyndall was initially charged with: one count each of accessing, possessing and making child pornography, sexual interference, sending sexually explicit material to a person under the age of 16 and two counts of luring.
The other charges were withdrawn after he pled guilty to possession of child pornography and luring on March 6.
The investigation began in June 2013, when Canadian authorities received information from the FBI in Richmond, Va., about a Canadian man who police believed had convinced a nine-year-old girl to make sexually explicit videos for him using her webcam.
The FBI provided information to the Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team, a Calgary-based unit, which is an Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) established by the Government of Alberta to bring together the Province’s most sophisticated law enforcement resources.
Further investigation by the ICE unit led investigators to an Airdrie residence where on Aug. 1, 2013, they executed a search warrant and seized computers and electronic devices.
Tyndall was not in the home at the time and a warrant for his arrest was issued. On Aug. 6, 2013, with the assistance of the Airdrie RCMP, ICE unit officers arrested Tyndall at his home without incident.
