Man faces child-porn charges

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Darrell Erwin Ackman

A city man who gained notoriety by taping young women and placing the videos on YouTube now faces child pornography and prostitution-related charges.

Winnipeg police said Darrell Erwin Ackman, 43, was arrested following a lengthy investigation into individuals targeting at-risk runaway teens.

It's alleged Ackman was recruiting girls under the age of 18 to appear in porn videos that promoted escort agencies, Insp. Gord Perrier said Wednesday, adding police know of four victims and are looking for another eight young girls who might be victims or witnesses.

"These children were preyed upon, taken advantage of and exploited," Perrier said.

Ackman was first arrested July 23 and charged with living off the avails of prostitution. He was still in custody Tuesday when police laid additional charges, including two counts of sexual assault, two counts of sexual interference, making/publishing child pornography, possessing child pornography and invitation to sexual touching.

Ackman is also wanted in Florida on outstanding warrants for prostitution charges that date back to 2010. Perrier said he's not aware of any attempts by the U.S. to have Ackman extradited for those charges.

Perrier said Winnipeg police began an investigation in November 2011, targeting individuals who were preying on high-risk, teenage runaways.

"This is something we know is going on," Perrier said. "This is something we take seriously."

The investigation expanded in July, with police partnering with several social service agencies that are in regular contact with young girls. That work led to Ackman's arrest.

"It's an important step for policing and an important step for the co-operation between social agencies and all the various units within the police service that deal with exploitation," Perrier said.

A search warrant was executed in mid-July on a residence where police seized cameras, computers and digital video cards that contained images of child pornography.

"It took some time to pierce the cloak and dagger of child prostitution and child pornography, and we gained a lot of momentum in July."

Perrier said Ackman's activities drew attention in December when he was identified as MrJetzTV, taping young women on the streets of Winnipeg, and sometimes in bars, and posting the videos on the Internet. Perrier said that activity was deplorable but not illegal. However, it prompted police to watch Ackman closely.

Perrier said it's alleged Ackman was making videos to be sold and placed on the Internet to promote prostitution under the guise of escort agencies.

Perrier said police have identified four female victims so far and believe another eight young girls -- all under the age of 18 -- are either victims or witnesses.

In court documents, police allege Ackman sexually assaulted and sexually touched two 14-year-old girls; one girl from July 2011 to July 2012; and the other girl only for a short period in July 2012. It's alleged Ackman also put one of those girls to work as a prostitute.

Perrier credited the four 14-year-old girls who came forward to help police.

"It's brave of these children to stand up and say, 'This is what happened to me,' " Perrier said. "From there we could execute warrants and gain other evidence to corroborate it."

Perrier said police believe Ackman was acting alone, but the investigation is continuing.

Anyone with information is asked to contact police at 204-986-3464.

Lawyer Martin Glazer, who is representing Ackman, said the Crown will have a difficult time proving the charges, adding there are credibility issues with the young complainants.

"They're runaways," Glazer said. "These girls are not believable. They're not credible."

Glazer said he was upset with how Winnipeg police had manipulated the court process to keep Ackman in custody following his first arrest July 23. One of the conditions of bail was Ackman had to turn over his passport to the court, Glazer said, but police had seized his passport and Ackman could not get at it. Glazer said he convinced the court to change the bail condition so the passport could remain with police, but then police brought the additional charges.

-- with files from Mike McIntyre

aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 2, 2012 0