By Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Sentencing delayed for man facing child porn, extortion charges

Jan 25, 2018 | 2:55 PM

LETHBRIDGE – The sentencing of a Blood Tribe man has been delayed, as the court awaits reports that will help determine a fit penalty.

It was noted Thursday afternoon, Jan. 25, by the Crown and defence, that they only just received a Gladue report for Skylar Pantherbone, and are still waiting on a pre-sentence report (PSR) and psychological assessment.

The Gladue report helps the court to take into account an offender’s Aboriginal heritage, while the PSR focusses on their personal circumstances and potential for rehabilitation.

Pantherbone was taken into custody on Aug. 17, 2017, following a joint investigation that involved ALERT’s Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit, Blood Tribe Police and the Lethbridge Police Service.

Police say an individual hacked the social media account of a Lethbridge teen and accessed private photos, which they then tried to “sextort” her with. The victim went to a Lethbridge Police School Resource Officer in March, and with the help of ICE, they tracked the hacker’s location and determined the person’s identity.

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They noted that the victim and accused were unknown to each other.

Pantherbone ultimately entered guilty pleas to charges of distributing/selling child pornography, possession of child porn, extortion, possession of stolen substance and failure to comply with conditions.

Those conditions connect to a previous ICE investigation from September of 2016. In that case, police say a man contacted three teenage girls on Facebook, asking for their Snapchat usernames. According to police, when the man was denied, he would send a sexually explicit image of them that had previously been posted online, threatening to send the pictures to their friends and family if they didn’t comply.

He also entered guilty pleas in that case, admitting to possession of child pornography, extortion, threats causing death and luring a child under 18.

A sentencing hearing in regard to both cases has been scheduled for March.

by Patrick Burles - @PatrickBurles on Twitter

Sentencing delayed for man facing child porn, extortion charges

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