Ontario man who convinced two women to send sexually explicit photos of daughters is now free
James McGuire and one of the women also planned to perform sexual acts with her children before his wife turned him in
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A Copper Cliff man who convinced two women to send him sexually explicit photos of their young daughters has been given a six-year jail sentence but is now also a free man.
James McGuire and one of the women also planned to perform sexual acts with her children, a Sudbury court heard, before his wife turned him in to Greater Sudbury Police.
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“Mr. McGuire: it’s not often I am somewhat at a loss for words,” Superior Court Justice Robbie Gordon told McGuire. “The facts that surround these offences are disgusting and sickening …
“The statement you made in the police report shows you didn’t have any real appreciation for what you did. Do you feel any different now that you have spoken with the person who wrote the pre-sentence report?”
McGuire said he did.
“I’m glad to hear that,” said Gordon, who stressed that McGuire should take the counselling and programming aspects of his probation order seriously to better himself. “Because without it, you are going to find yourself in jail and are going to cause untold harm to children – defenceless people. With some reluctance, I will go along with the joint submission (for a six-year sentence).
“You need to know you have no more room left,” the judge added. “If something like this happens again, it will be 10 years and up, easily, in jail. There is no coming back from an incident like this.”
Assistant Crown attorney Matthew Caputo of Sault Ste. Marie and defence lawyer George Fournier had proposed the six-year sentence.
However, McGuire had been in custody for almost four years since his arrest, he received pre-trial custody credit of six years and was released from custody.
On Oct. 29 last fall, McGuire pleaded guilty to four of the 14 charges he was facing:
– possessing child pornography from May 2, 2019, to Feb. 27, 2021;
– making child pornography from Oct. 1, 2020, to March 7, 2021;
– communicating for the purpose of making arrangements involving minors from Sept. 11, 2019, to Feb. 21, 2021; and
– making child pornography from Sept. 11, 2019, to Feb. 21, 2021.
Through an agreed statement of facts, the court heard that on March 5, 2021, McGuire’s spouse contacted Greater Sudbury Police after she saw him watching what she believed to be child pornography on a computer in his home.
Caputo also told the court McGuire had talked to a woman in which they described sexual activities with the woman’s daughter who was a child.
Police executed a search warrant at McGuire’s home the following day and seized six electronic devices. Officers found seven images and one video that met the definition of child pornography. The children in the video ranged in age from newborn to four years.
Police also learned McGuire had talked to another woman detailing sexual activities with children.
One of the women sent, at McGuire’s request, a photograph of her one-year-old daughter’s vagina.
The other woman sent – again at McGuire’s request – sexualized photographs of her six-year-old niece. McGuire and the woman also talked about the two of them performing sexual acts with her children who were four and 10 years of age at the time.
Police charged McGuire and the two women.
Gordon also issued a DNA order, two forfeiture orders for firearms, ammunition and six devices, including a Samsung cellphone, tablet and HP laptop, that police seized when they searched McGuire’s home.
In addition, the judge ordered that McGuire be listed on the national sex offenders’ registry for life, imposed a lifetime Community Supervision Order that keeps McGuire away from children and ruled that he cannot be in a job or position of authority over minors.
Finally, Gordon used a three-year probation order that includes the condition that McGuire takes counselling and programming as recommended, in particular, for sexual deviancy.
McGuire, 41, did not have a prior record. He was supported in court by his mother, whom he will live with in Kirkland Lake, the court heard.
In his sentencing submission, Fournier said McGuire had “an unremarkable upbringing.” He did not have much of a relationship with his father but had a close one with his mother.
Fournier added that McGuire, who has his Grade 12 diploma and has taken computer courses, is a self-described loner who keeps to himself, but has strong support from his mother and sister.
He said McGuire will continue to take programming he started while in jail.
“Given that in the circumstances of the case, the length of time spent in custody, not having a prior record, this (six-year) sentence is appropriate and will have the required deterrent effect on Mr. McGuire,” he said. “This type of behaviour will simply not be tolerated.”
Caputo, in his sentencing address, noted that the Community Supervision Order contains conditions to protect the public, including one that orders McGuire to stay away from anyone younger than 16 unless supervised by an approved adult.
He also cannot have encryption software on any of his internet-capable devices, use the internet unless for employment purposes and only with supervision, or use person-to-person file-sharing activity on such internet sites as Motherless and Bear Share.
As a result of the sentencing, the Crown dropped 10 other charges McGuire was facing.
hcarmichael@postmedia.com
X: @HaroldCarmichae
