Child pornographer facing stiff sentence

Tyler David Walker, 21, organized online communities designed to distribute and share child porn on the ‘dark web’

APenticton man is facing a long prison term for his role in organizing a child pornography ring that was busted by an international police investigation. Tyler David Walker, 21, pleaded guilty to one count of importing or distributing child pornography, and appeared for his sentencing hearing Wednesday in provincial court in Penticton.

Court heard a cross-jurisdictional investigation involving the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, the RCMP’s Internet Child Exploitation division and the Toronto Police Service found Walker, under different online aliases, was instrumental in organizing multiple online communities designed to distribute and share child pornography.

The sites were formed on what is known as the dark web, a hidden part of the internet where users are largely untraceable.

Walker would introduce himself to other users under nicknames usually related to Marvel Comics characters like Drax and Deadpool.

In August 2015, he posted links to multiple still photos from a video with a naked young female. Another video posted included a girl in the age range of four to six years forced to perform sex acts with an adult male.

Walker initially acted as a moderator of the online community, but in discussions with other users decided to collaborate on their own site entitled “Childs play.” The site had more than 2,585 new members within a couple of days.

In March 2016, an online discussion about methods of storing the pornographic material showed “an awareness and sophistication in terms of trying to avoid, or doing what’s necessary to avoid being caught by police,” said Crown counsel Andrew Vandersluys.

There were other discussions Walker had with users, including preference of age for female children.

“The two discuss what could be done if they adopt a child together. I’m not going to go into the details, but suffice to say they describe it in lurid detail of what they would do by way of sexual intercourse with a child the ages of two, three or four,” Vandersluys said.

Walker also discussed with another user a young, female child in his neighbourhood he described as “cute as hell.”

He was arrested while leaving his residence on March 15, 2017, where his computer was located with Walker signed in to one of the child porn sites under an alias. He has been in custody since.

Vandersluys suggested a prison sentence in the range of six to eight years, while defence counsel Norm Yates recommended two to five years, with three years’ probation.

“When he was caught, he fully participated in the investigative process,” noted Yates.

“I can advise the court that as a result of that fulsome cooperation by Tyler, that police investigation, the international investigation, was made more whole.”

Yates also said his client has been assaulted by other inmates, getting sent to the hospital with a broken nose. Walker has no prior criminal history. “I don’t expect sympathy from anybody for what I’ve done,” Walker told the court, adding he accepts responsibility for his actions and has a lot of life ahead of him as a young man with plans to attend university at some point.

Judge Gale Sinclair reserved his decision, which he’s expected to deliver at an as-yet undetermined date next year.