By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Lethbridge man sentenced for sexual contact with youth and child luring

Jan 27, 2017 | 2:35 PM

LETHBRIDGE – A 34-year old man has been given three years in prison, after admitting to child luring, sexual contact with a person under the age of 16 and a breach of release conditions.

In November of 2013, a 13-year old girl came to Lethbridge Police saying she met a man on Instagram. The two arranged to meet in person three times, and had sex at least once.

It wasn’t until June of 2015 that Joseph Javin Birky would be arrested and charged, at which time he admitted to having sex with the girl.

After being released on bail with conditions that he not access a computer or the internet, a complaint came in to the police that he was using both, and his girlfriend confirmed the breach when police came to investigate.

During sentencing, the Crown noted that they normally would have pursued a sentence of four to six years, however, due to “difficulties with the case”, they agreed to come down to three years in exchange for a guilty plea.

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In addition to the prison time, Birky will go onto the sex offender registry for life and is prohibited from attending any parks, schools, swimming pools or other places where children under 16 are likely to be present for 20-years after his release.

He also received 32-days in jail for the breach of conditions, but was given credit for the same amount of time already served in pre-trial custody.

This is Birky’s second time being convicted of such a crime. He was given three years in prison in 2010, after admitting to exchanging drugs and money for sex with two girls who were just 15 and 11-years old.