An RMWB employee has been charged with child pornography offences by Alberta police. Police have reported that Phil Walding, a 50 year old who works for the Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo as the Chief Taxi Inspector, has been charged with a single count of accessing child pornography and also a single count of possession of child pornography. As of last Friday Walding was suspended with pay by the municipality “pending the outcome of an investigation.” In a statement released concerning Walding the municipality stated “The RMWB takes this matter very seriously and is cooperating fully with the police,” and then included the fact that Walding’s work area has been secured and placed under lock down during the investigation. Walding was arrested at his home in Wood Buffalo and the Wood Buffalo RCMP assisted the Alberta police in the arrest. Wood Buffalo RCMP also assisted in executing a search warrant of the home.

Investigation into the child pornography charges against RMWB employee Phil Walding started in June, when ALERT received information from the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Coordination Centre. This is the Canadian version of the American National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children, and the American organization passed along information about child pornography. The offences that Walding has been charged with are alleged to have happened in April according to Sgt. Lokken. Evidence was discovered when the search warrant was executed. According to Sgt. Lokken the offences are not believed to have been connected with Walding’s employment in any way.