VANCOUVER -- A man from Vancouver Island's Comox Valley is facing child pornography charges, police announced Wednesday.

The charges against Joseph Stephane Mallette were approved on Sept. 9, but the B.C. RCMP's Integrated Child Exploitation Team announced them in a news release Wednesday.

Mallette is charged with one count of accessing child pornography, two counts of distributing it and two counts of possessing it, police said.

He has been released with a number of conditions - including prohibitions on possessing or using computers and being in the presence of people under age 16 - and is expected to appear in court on Jan. 21, according to police.

The charges against Mallette stem from an investigation that began in September 2018, the RCMP unit said in its release. The investigation eventually led police to execute a search warrant at a home in Courtenay, where Mallette was arrested.

Anyone who knows Mallette and sees him breaching the conditions of his release should report that information to their local police agency, RCMP said.