Coast Guard vessel Hudson involved in child porn investigation

CCGS Hudson. Photo: Canadian Forces

Last August, the Canada Border Services Agency announced it had arrested a New Brunswick man named Julien Marceau after searching an unnamed vessel in Halifax Harbour. The CBSA charged Marceau with smuggling, and Halifax police additionally charged him with possession of child pornography.

A search warrant application related to the investigation has been recently made public. The “information to obtain” (ITO) application reveals that Marceau was the First Engineer on the coast guard vessel Hudson, and that he had been working with the Coast Guard for 30 years.

According to the ITO, a Coast Guard security agent named Jeff Foster contacted the RCMP after he discovered that websites “full of malware” had been accessed through a server on the Hudson. An RCMP investigator reviewed 30 of the 74 problematic URLs and found that they contained photos of  “children under the age of 18 years old, but were clothed and modeling, wearing various types of outfits, like lingerie and bathing suit in various poses.” The RCMP officer also found reference to the word “Lolita,” which the investigator recognized as a reference to child porn.

Foster informed the RCMP investigator that he had identified Marceau as the probable person who had accessed the websites. At that time, the Hudson was in Bermuda; but on its return to Dartmouth on August 16, Marceau’s cabin was searched and a USB stick containing child pornography was found.

The charges against Marceau have not been tested in court.