Voyeur stepdad sentenced to three years in prison
Citing the potential for ongoing revictimization at the hands of other “wicked” people, a judge has sentenced a Penticton man to three years in prison for making and distributing voyeuristic nude photos of his teenaged stepdaughter.
The man, who can only be identified as Mr. X due to a publication ban imposed to protect the girl’s identity, pleaded guilty to a single count of importing or distributing child pornography and was sentenced Sept. 9 in B.C. Supreme Court.
“Despite the fact that (the victim) suffered no actual physical harm and is currently reported as doing ‘well,’ I find that (the victim) suffered psychological harm and faces reasonably foreseeable potential psychological harm,” wrote Justice Richard Funt in his sentencing decision.
“I am satisfied that the psychological harm may endure with (the victim) wondering what images or videos of her are on the internet, when may they appear, and whether they may be used by some wicked person in the future in an attempt to embarrass her or extort her for money or some favour.”
Mr. X’s sentencing hearing ran for two days in July in B.C. Supreme Court in Penticton.
Crown counsel Ann Lerchs called for a prison sentence in the range of 36 to 42 months, while defence counsel James Pennington argued for a conditional sentence of house arrest.
Reading from the police report, Lerchs said Mr. X on Jan. 7, 2020, began communicating via the Kik online messaging service with an undercover FBI agent, who was posing as a pedophile in a chat room where members exchanged child pornography and erotica.
The FBI agent struck up a digital conversation with Mr. X, and over the next day received 13 different images of Mr. X’s stepdaughter in various states of undress. The images were recorded using spy cameras Mr. X set up in his family’s home, including the bathroom.
Mr. X admitted he was attracted to the girl, then 15, and had been secretly recording her since she was 12. The FBI agent even got Mr. X to send a fresh photo showing Mr. X holding up three fingers in front of a unique shower curtain that was in the background of one of the girl’s photos.
With that confirmation in hand the FBI alerted the RCMP, who executed a search warrant at Mr. X’s home in Penticton on Jan. 11, 2020.
Mounties seized electronics and storage devices containing 314 images and 20 videos that met the definition of child pornography. Some of the images and videos depicted the stepdaughter, while others showed unknown females between the ages of five and 15.
Turning to a pre-sentencing report and psychological assessment delving into Mr. X’s background, Lerchs said Mr. X reported a long-standing interest in teenaged girls and was pegged as an average risk to reoffend.
In reply, Pennington said his client had been attending weekly counselling sessions for 2 1/2 years at his own expense and through that process learned how much damage he had done.
If not for that counselling, said the judge, the sentence would have been 42 months in jail. The judge also cited as mitigating factors Mr. X’s guilty plea, lack of prior criminal record, insight and willingness to get treatment. Aggravating factors highlighted by the judge included the victim’s age, Mr. X’s position of trust over her and the sophisticated planning demonstrated by Mr. X.
Once released from prison, Mr. X will be required to comply with the Sex Offender Information Registry Act for 20 years, stay away parks, pools and other public places where children under 16 are expected to be present, avoid jobs or volunteer work that would put him in a position of trust with children under 16, and comply with restrictions on his use of the internet.