Airdrie man charged with numerous child porn offences

An Airdrie man is facing several child pornography charges after a tip in the United States prompted an investigation in Alberta by ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit.

In June 2013, ICE received information from the FBI about a suspect who police believed convinced a nine-year-old American girl to make sexually explicit videos on her webcam.

"The gaurdian of the child noticed some chat and contacted the FBI," said Acting Staff Sergeant Dean Jacobs of the ICE Unit.

The investigation prodeced an IP address and led ICE to a home in Airdrie.

On August 1, a search warrant was executed at the home and police seized computers and electronic devices. Those items are still waiting for analysis by investigators.

The suspect was not found inside the home at the time of the initial warrant but was arrested on August 6.

Robert James Tyndall, 42, is charged with:

“This is a happy day, not just because we arrested someone, but most importantly because we saved a nine-year-old girl from repeated sexual abuse,” said Jacobs. “Now this young girl can get back to being a child and focus on recovering from this abuse.”

Tyndall was released on bail and has been ordered not to have contact with anyone under the age of 16.

He is also not allowed to possess electronic devices that access the Internet.

During the course of the investigation, police learned that Tyndall used the names “Rob Williams” and “Rob Williams 91” on various social networking sites.

He also used the following email addresses:

Tyndall is expected to appear in court again on August 22.

Investigators are encouraging anyone with information pertaining to this investigation to contact Acting Staff Sergeant Dean Jacobs of the southern Alberta ICE unit at 403-428-4905.

"With Internet your wide-spread is going to be global so he could reach anywhere throughout the world so we gotta do some more investigation and we'll figure out if there's any more people that we need to speak to," said jacobs.

Suspected child sexual exploitation or suspicious online activity may be reported online at www.cybertip.ca.