Niagara man sent naked pic to 12-year-old

A now 28-year-old Niagara man, who convinced a 12-year-old girl to send him nude pictures of herself and then tried unsuccessfully to have the pre-teen meet him, will return to court this fall for sentencing.

“He requested to meet with her in person but, fortunately, she declined the invitation,” assistant Crown attorney Rick Monnette told Judge Tory Colvin.

James Cronin pleaded guilty Wednesday in Ontario Court of Justice in Welland to charges of communicating with a person under 18 for the purpose of facilitating the commission of an offence, exposing his genitals in a digital image to a person under 16, assault, distributing an intimate image of a female without consent and failing to comply with a court order.

The Pelham resident is scheduled to return to court Nov. 14 for sentencing. Between June and September 2015, court was told, Cronin, then 26, struck up an online conversation with a 12-yearold Niagara girl.

He convinced her to send him intimate photos of herself and he in turn sent her a photo of his penis.

His online activities were brought to the attention of authorities after a woman turned over a tablet to Niagara Regional Police.

She told police Cronin had been using the tablet and she had recently discovered intimate images of her on the device. She later learned the files, which featured her sleeping naked on a bed, had been shared with at least three people.

“She was not aware she had been filmed,” Monnette said.

She also found information about the online relationship with the 12-year-old as well as digital files of child pornography.

The tablet also contained files by Cronin claiming he “groomed ugly single mothers” to gain access to children, court was told.

At the time of the offences, Cronin was under a 10-year court order which prohibited him from using the internet to access pornography.