LETHBRIDGE, AB – Three Lethbridge men, who were part of a large, province-wide child pornography bust last spring, have each been handed their sentences.
Bryan Hernandez, 19, Brandon Eguizabal, 27, and Yonatan Linares, 26, were all charged last June with child porn offences. Those offences happened sometime between May 20 and June 23, 2020.
Linares and Eguizabal both pleaded guilty to possessing child porn. Linares was ordered to serve 90 days in jail back in November, as well as a year of probation after his release, and Eguizabal is spending the next two years behind bars.
Hernandez also pleaded guilty this past week to distributing child porn, which earned him a two year jail term and three years of probation.
The ALERT Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit has reiterated a few times that there’s been a noticeable spike in online child exploitation cases throughout the COVID pandemic, and officers are working hard to stop these kinds of predators.