A Fort McMurray man charged last week with voyeurism and making child pornography at various facilities, including Servus Credit Union Place, was banned from all St. Albert recreation facilities.
The city had served a ban notice on Stephen Thomas Deighton on Oct. 8, a few days before he was charged with six counts of voyeurism, five counts of making child pornography, one count of accessing child pornography and six counts of voyeurism.
He is accused of videotaping and taking photographs of children in various stages of undress around the Servus Place pool and several other aquatic facilities in Sherwood Park, Edmonton, Fort McMurray and Calgary.
Sgt. Mike Lokken with the Internet Child Exploitation unit said last week that most of the children in the videos are unidentifiable because they don’t include the child’s head. He said in the case where the child can be seen the children are generally clothed or in their bathing suits.
The images are not believed to have been shared on the Internet.
Servus Place facility manager Dianne Enger said the city started the banning process after receiving a recommendation from the RCMP.
She said that process began while the police were still investigating and before the charges were laid.
Enger said keeping a safe facility is paramount to the city and they are always looking into ways to improve.
“We are working with the RCMP constantly to make sure the facility is safe.”
Enger said the city is also developing guidelines on the use of cameras in recreation centres including Servus Place. She said those guidelines will aim to strike the balance between normal use and inappropriate use.
She said staff at the facility have already been trained on what to look for and what to do if they spot suspicious behaviour.
Servus Place has security guards on staff throughout the day and Enger said the facility is also well covered with video surveillance.
“That is one of the security features we have had from day one.”
She also said the facility has dealt with very few problems in its history and has never banned anyone from the facility before. She said the vast majority of people who come to the facility are not a problem.
“This is a positive and safe place.”
