Man pleads guilty to child porn

SASKATOON — A 21-year-old Saskatchewan man is facing a penitentiary sentence in a child-pornography case described by a veteran Crown prosecutor as possibly the most terrible in provincial history.

Shane Dale Pattison pleaded guilty to 53 charges, including possession, distribution and production of child porn. His sentencing hearing began Monday.

Speaking to reporters outside court, Crown prosecutor Mike Segu said Pattison is “the worst offender I have ever seen” in 12 years of prosecuting child-exploitation cases.

His digital collection of atrocities included a highly detailed 170-page instruction manual on how to sexually abuse children from infancy and train them to keep it secret.

“It is perhaps the most disturbingly complete manual I have ever encountered,” Segu told the court.

Pattison established a network of contacts with hundreds of like- minded people worldwide, including an Idaho man who was actively abusing his own four-year-old niece.

As a result of investigations into Pattison’s activities by the Saskatoon police Internet child exploitation unit, the Idaho girl was rescued and her uncle is now serving 15 years behind bars, Segu told court.

Pattison said he was “addicted” to child porn and had made several attempts to quit collecting it. “I wanted to stop, but I don’t know how,” he told police.