Social media ban Former New Minas man will serve jail time for publishing intimate image
A former New Minas man currently of no fixed address has been banned by the court from using social media after pleading guilty to publishing an intimate image of a person without consent.
Brandon Lee Wheaton, 22, was sentenced on several charges in Kentville provincial court on Feb. 1. He had earlier pleaded guilty to charges of assault; knowingly uttering a threat to cause bodily harm; driving while disqualified; knowingly publishing, distributing, transmitting, selling, making available or advertising an intimate image of a person knowing that the person depicted did not give their consent; failing to comply with an undertaking; stealing $145 worth of Frito Lay chips and failing to comply with his recognizance.
Judge Jean Whalen sentenced Wheaton to a total of six months in custody to be followed by two years of probation on six of the seven charges. Wheaton was fined a total of $1,272.50 for driving while disqualified. The court granted a primary DNA order on the charge of uttering a threat.
The court granted a two-year prohibition on the use of any so- cial media, networking website or application on the Internet or any digital network in relation to the charge of publishing an intimate image without consent. The court also granted a forfeiture order for Wheaton’s cell phone. Wheaton has been ordered to have no contact with the victim.
Wheaton committed the offences in Canning on Oct. 8 and 22, 2015, in Kentville between Nov. 1, 2015, and Feb. 22, 2016, and in New Minas on July 7, 2016.
Several other charges against Wheaton were withdrawn, including criminal harassment; another count of failing to comply with an undertaking; another count of uttering a threat to cause bodily harm; threatening to use violence against a justice system participant - intending to provoke a state of fear in order to impede her in the performance of her duties; break, enter and theft involving a transport truck at the Frito Lay factory in New Minas; and two more counts of failing to comply with his recognizance.