Charges laid in Calgary ‘Canada Creep’ investigation

James Robert Williamson, 42, has been charged with three counts each of voyeurism and publication of voyeuristic recordings in Calgary’s so-called ‘Canada Creep’ investigation.

He will appear in court on Thursday.

Staff Sgt. Cory Dayley says while he’s currently facing charges in relation to three incidents, more charges are anticipated.

“Several more victims have come forward today, along with the analyzing of the terabytes of data that we have, that we will have more charges forthcoming in the weeks to come,” he said.

The account – which has since been deleted by Twitter – showed ‘upskirting’ videos, which is when a camera is positioned underneath a woman’s skirt without her knowledge, as well as images and videos from change rooms.

Calgary Police started an investigation on Monday after it became aware of the account and the arrest was made Tuesday around 5 p.m., without incident.

“The community was essential,” he said.

The suspect was identified through a public tip and other cyber-investigative efforts and officers also seized computers, hard drives and other devices from a home in Prestwick, with some material going back to 2012.

“It could take weeks, if not months to go through it,” he said, adding they’re looking at hundreds of thousands of images and videos.

Williamson was arrested while on his way back to a Prestwick residence and he is not previously known to police.

The account had over 17,000 followers and Dayley said they’ll also look at the totality of how much of the material was shared, such as through retweets.

“The suspect in custody has been charged for distributing the material, along with creating it,” he said. “So anybody who does distribute it, based on how it’s done or the totality or the intent behind that, depending on the investigation as it unfolds, we may look at that.”

Dayley said the videos left clear clues, including some images that showed the reflection of the suspect, which he said was helpful.

“A lot of people are upset about just the objectifying of women on this page, whether their image constitutes us being able to lay a criminal offence, it’s still objectification,” he said.

“The behaviour on the account started to intensify, it became more aggressive I guess in regards to taking more chances to achieve the goal of what the suspect was doing in the case.”