THUNDER BAY - A Thunder Bay man facing charges connected to possession of child pornography was denied bail on Wednesday.
Reasons for the man's detainment by Justice of the Peace Anna Gibbon as well as submissions made by lawyers at his bail hearing on Aug. 12 are bound by a court-ordered publication ban.
Mark Phillip Lehtonen, 37, of Thunder Bay, was brought into police custody in June after the Thunder Bay Police Service’s Cyber Crime Unit began investigating suspicious online posts by a local internet user. Officers executed a search warrant at a home in the 400-block of Rupert Street on June 16 where the accused was subsequently arrested.
Police learned during the search, Lehtonen was allegedly in violation of a previous court order that prohibited him from accessing the World Wide Web outside of employment and education purposes. This order was made in 2015 after the accused was convicted and sentenced to more than a year in prison on several charges including possession of child pornography, extortion and voyeurism, according to a 2015 CBC report.
After the June search, the accused was charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of breaching a prohibition order in relation to children.
After this arrest, Lehtonen was granted bail but he was once again re-arrested on July 21 after police learned the accused was possibly in breach of his release conditions.Officers with the Cyber Crimes Unit once again executed a different search warrant at a Floral Beach Road address in Shuniah and charged the accused with accessing child pornography, breach of a prohibition order and failing to comply with a judicial release.
According to police, Lehtonen was previously employed as a childhood educator in Thunder Bay. A decision published in 2016 by the College of Early Childhood Educators discipline committee stated Lehtonen's certificate of registration was revoked and he was permanently refrained from reapplying or seeking certification with the college.
He remains in custody and will appear in court next on Aug. 27.
