Crown seeks highest-ever child porn sentence

A Saskatoon man found in possession of more than 80,000 images and videos of child pornography deserves a lengthy penitentiary term, says the Crown prosecutor in the case.

Darrel Donald Stupnikoff, 58, pleaded guilty Thursday in Saskatoon provincial court to possession and distribution of child porn.

“Nobody amasses this amount of child pornography by accident,” Crown prosecutor Mike Segu said in court. “This is a level of dedication — when one considers the time required, the size of the files, the amount of known child pornography on these (hard drives) — this is a significant investment of time and effort. … It is an egregious amount and the type is brutal,” Segu added.

In addition to the 80,393 files classified as child pornography, there are a further 1.2 million files found on Stupnikoff ’s computers that still haven’t been categorized by police.

“The amount of time and mental erosion that occurs for officers who have to investigate this can and should be factored into the sentence,” Segu said.

Segu argued for a sevenyear prison sentence — which would be the highest sentence for child pornography charges in Saskatchewan — for Stupnikoff, who has one previous child pornography conviction from 2005.

Defence lawyer Brian Pfefferle took a substantially different position, arguing for a jail sentence of two years less a day followed by three years probation.

The high-water mark for child pornography sentences in Saskatchewan is five years — the sentence handed down last year to Shane Pattison, who possessed more than 4,500 images.

Pfefferle said Stupnikoff ’s case is less extreme because he only shared files using one program and didn’t actively encourage the abuse of children the way that Pattison did.

Stupnikoff was arrested in October 2012 after his IP address was flagged by police as downloading numerous child pornography files.

They searched his home and found one laptop that Stupnikoff directed them to, but it didn’t match up with the most recent activity they’d monitored.

Police ultimately found a second laptop hidden behind a deep freeze in a storage room and determined Stupnikoff had actually been downloading child pornography on that computer at the moment police knocked on the door. Police also found four external hard drives, all containing pictures and videos of young girls being sexually assaulted.

Part of Stupnikoff ’s previous sentence, which was a conditional sentence served in the community, included participating in the sex offender treatment program. While he was compliant and attended all his sessions, it obviously didn’t help him after his sentence was over, Segu said.

Judge Doug Agnew reserved his decision on sentencing to April 4.