5 Quebec child pornography suspects granted bail

David Boucher, 31, Patrick Charbonneau, 36, Didier Chetelat, 27, Dave Turcotte, 40, and Richard Levesque have been granted bail. They are accused of various child pornography-related offences.

Five out of 14 suspects charged with being part of a child pornography ring have been granted bail.

David Boucher, 31, Patrick Charbonneau, 36, Didier Chetelat, 27, Dave Turcotte, 40, and Richard Levesque will have to respect a lengthy list of conditions including giving authorities their passports, not using the internet, and not going to locations where children are likely to be present.

Eight of the accused will appear in court for their bail hearings Tuesday. One, Vincent Rodrigue, 39, was already in jail serving time for an unrelated criminal offence when he was arrested and has renounced his bail hearing.

All 14 men, aged 27 to 74 years old, were arraigned on between two and 11 charges such as possession of child pornography, distributing child pornography, creating child pornography, or inciting people to commit a sexual act.

According to officers the men were part of an online forum that discussed how to meet and sexually exploit children.

Two of those men turned out to be connected to scouting groups, one of them was also an elementary school teacher, and a third man was an assistant professor at HEC.