Stony Plain basketball coach sentenced to 6 months in jail for child pornography charges

A former Stony Plain basketball coach and Alberta government policy advisor convicted of possession of child pornography was sentenced Tuesday.

A Stony Plain basketball coach will spend six months in jail after he pleaded guilty to charges related to child sexual assault material.

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Ronald Feniuk received the sentence in an Edmonton courtroom on Tuesday morning.

Feniuk pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and accessing child pornography last October.

He was arrested at his home in January 2023 after an investigation by the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team after the unit received a tip from the RCMP National Child Exploitation Crime Center in June 2022 about an unknown person in Alberta uploading child sexual abuse materials to a social media platform.

The 61-year-old is a married father of four.

At the time of his arrest he was the primary source of income for his family, as well as a basketball coach and Sunday school teacher.

According to the agreed statement of facts, investigators found child sexual assault material on three devices seized from Feniuk, including two Samsung phones and a Dell laptop computer issued to him by his employer.

The laptop had three videos and 381 images, while the phones had 38 images and two videos between both devices.

Court documents show many of the photos found in Feniuk’s possession depict girls under the age of 12.

According to the agreed statement of facts, Feniuk admitted to viewing the material on the laptop.

The Crown had asked for 12 to 18 months in jail followed by probation, while the defence asked for a conditional sentence order followed by probation.

In addition to the jail time, Feniuk also received three years probation.

At this time of his arrest, Feniuk was also employed by the government of Alberta.