COURTS Man gets 7 years for exploiting young boys A3
City man who sexually exploited five boys and possessed thousands of child porn images gets seven years in prison
A 34-year-old Edmonton man who lured his victims through playing board games has been sentenced to seven years for sexual misconduct and exploitation of five young boys.
Court heard the “extremely disturbing ” agreed statement of facts at the Thursday morning sentencing hearing for Justin Georges Stephen Coulombe.
Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Paul Belzil agreed to the joint submission for a total prison sentence of seven years, with Coulombe also being listed on the sex offender registry. In addition, he faces a weapons ban, a lifetime ban on public parks, is to have no contact with children under 16 and no use of the internet.
Coulombe pleaded guilty Nov. 2 to two counts of invitation to sexual touching, two counts of luring a child, two counts of sexual interference and distribution of child pornography. The remaining counts were withdrawn Thursday.
The Edmonton man — who knew his victims from the role-playing board game community — manipulated three 12-year-old boys on separate occasions between July 2008 and December 2013. In one case, he invited a boy to his home two times and touched him inappropriately.
Crown prosecutor Craig Krieger, reading from the statement of facts, said Coulombe bought a new cellphone for a 16-year-old boy and persuaded him to send inappropriate photos. At the same time, he was posing as a 16-year-old girl online to discuss sexual acts with the boy.
In another case, court heard Coulombe used Facebook to communicate with a 12-year-old boy, convincing him to send sexual photos. Then, on three separate occasions, the pair met before Coulombe performed sexual acts on the child.
A police investigation in 2017 found 8,490 distinct images of child pornography in Coulombe’s possession and 2,948 videos that were duplicated and saved in several locations. He was also found to have shared the images online.
Of the victims, Belzil said: “I only hope they will be able to move on and lead healthy lives.”
A mother of one of the victims sat at the back of the courtroom. She submitted a victim impact statement that Belzil read privately.
Coulombe has been in custody since August 2017 when he was initially charged with exploitation after an Alberta Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit investigation.
Images obtained of the accused during the investigation showed him posing as a member of the Catholic clergy, but there is no evidence to suggest he was posing as a priest when the offences occurred. Police said he had no affiliation with any Catholic archdiocese in North America.
I only hope (the victims) will be able to move on and lead healthy lives.”
COURT OF QUEEN’S BENCH JUSTICE PAUL BELZIL