Local man jailed for child porn

He managed to avoid jail more than a decade ago on similar charges.

But Calgary child pornographer Norman William Lang wasn’t so lucky this time around.

Lang was sentenced to 31/2 years in a federal prison on Friday on charges of possessing and making child pornography as well as breaching an order he not attend public parks where children were playing.

Provincial court Judge Catherine Skene agreed with Crown prosecutor Jenny Rees a 42-month sentence was warranted for the three crimes.

Defence counsel Shaun Leochko agreed with Rees sentences of two years and one year on the first two charges were warranted, but argued the breach should have only carried an additional three months.

Last July, Lang pleaded guilty to possessing more than 18,000 images and 219 unique videos of child pornography on various computers seized by police from his Calgary home.

He also admitted taking photographs of the pre-teenage daughters of a female friend while they were bathing, showing them naked.

In October 2005, Lang was handed a two-year conditional sentence order for Internet luring of a minor and distribution of child pornography.

At the time, he was ordered to stay away from parks, playgrounds and other areas children frequented for 10 years.

Rees said the breach warranted more than the three months Leochko suggested, noting Lang breached multiple times by taking the girls to a park.

Lang’s conditional sentence order in 2005 came mere days before changes in the Criminal Code mandated minimum sentences for possessing and distributing illicit child images.

At the time, Rees sought a jail term, citing the pending changes in the federal legislation as justification.

But provincial court Judge Frank Maloney agreed with thendefence counsel Balfour Der that Lang should be spared a sentence behind bars.

Der argued the minimum sentences was the result of “a bunch of politicians trying to appease voters.”