Lethbridge Courthouse. (Lethbridge News Now)

By David Opinko

Lethbridge man sentenced for counselling child porn involving grandson

Jun 14, 2021 | 3:13 PM

LETHBRIDGE, AB – A man from Lethbridge will spend the following year in custody for attempting to convince his grandson to be photographed nude.

The 75-year-old, who cannot be named due to a publication ban, changed a prior plea of not guilty to guilty Monday afternoon for one count of counselling an offence not committed.

In the summer of 2018, the grandfather invited his 11-year-old grandson to his house to show him the new green screen he has recently purchased for photography.

The senior demonstrated how the green screen worked and showed the young boy five photos, three of which were of naked children.

He then closed the program, turned off his computer, and told his grandson, “I’m sorry you had to see that.”

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The 75-year-old said he had downloaded those photos from the internet.

Later that same day when the two were at a local park, the elder told the youth that he would pay the child $50 “more” for nude photos.

After returning to the grandfather’s home, he wanted to test out the green screen with the 11-year-old.

As the child was leaving, the elder reminded the youth that the offer would continue to stand.

The youth never took him up on the offer.

RCMP was made aware of the situation in May 2019. Shortly afterwards, the 75-year-old’s home was searched and a number of devices were seized, none of which contained child pornography.

Prior to issuing the sentence, Justice Rosemary Nation asked the grandfather if he had anything to say. He made the following statement:

“I regret the momentary stupidity that resulted in these series of events.”

The judge agreed to the joint submission of one year in custody to be followed by three years of probation.

That is on the lower end of sentencing for this type of offense, but the court pointed out mitigating factors such as his age, a series of health issues that would make a longer period of incarceration difficult, that he plead guilty and has no prior criminal record, and that there have been no further incidents since the summer of 2018.

He will also be subject to numerous conditions including being on the National Sex Offender Registry for 20 years, attend counselling if directed, have no contact with the victim, and be prohibited from attending places where people under the age of 16 are present.