Ottawa man remains in U.S. custody on child porn charges

Canwest News Service Published:Â Friday, July 25, 2008 Paul Maher, a former Ottawa police officer and Health Canada employee, remains in a U.S. jail to await trial on charges of possessing and distributing child pornography after waiving his right to a detention hearing. "If he hadn't waived his hearing, the (U.S.) government would have presented to the court some of the evidence that they have against him and the reason why we would want him to be detained in federal custody pending trial," said Margaret Philbin, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's Office. "He's basically saying, 'I will wait for trial in jail,'" she said. Maher, 57, was indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on charges he travelled from Ottawa to Mount Pleasant, Penn., where he intended to have sex with a 14-year-old girl he had been conversing... [read full story]