Man maintains innocence after child luring conviction
Undercover officer was posing as a 16-year-old
Before being sentenced by Justice Laura Bird on Thursday, David Siddle maintained he wasn’t interested in young girls and would have left the motel if what turned out to be a fictitious escort was a minor.
Last year, Bird found the 62year-old guilty of obtaining sexual services for consideration from a person under 18 and communicating with a person under 18 for facilitating sexual services (child luring).
On Thursday, Bird heard sentencing submissions from counsel in the Superior Court of Justice.
The prosecution sought a sentence of 18 months in jail, and two years’ probation, while Siddle’s lawyer, Kevin Henry, argued a conditional sentence was appropriate for his client.
Bird found Siddle not to be risk to reoffend and sentenced him to 12 months of house arrest and one year probation.
For first six months of the sentence, Siddle will only be able to
leave his residence for the necessities of life, medical appointments and to visit his mother.
For the remainder of his sentence, Siddle will have a curfew between 9 p.m. and 6 a.m.
At trial, an undercover police officer with the Peterborough Police Service told the court he was part of an investigation in 2019 that focused on targeting people police believed were trying to obtain sexual services from minors through an online escort page called LeoList.
According to the officer, Siddle texted the listed number on LeoList and asked for rates for sexual services.
During the text exchange, the undercover officer told Siddle on two occasions that the fictitious
escort was 16 years old. Siddle testified in his own defence, stating he believed the escort was 22 because that’s what the ad said.
Henry submitted that Siddle’s actions weren’t one of a child sex predator, and his client was tricked by police.
According to Bird’s findings, she accepted Siddle didn’t go looking for a young teenager in 2019, but after the undercover officer identified as being 16, he still agreed to meet the fake escort at Motel 6 in Peterborough, where officers were waiting to arrest him.
“He fell for it,” Henry explained.
Siddle will also be on the Sexual Offend Information Act (SOIRA) list for 20 years.