Ontario senior who unwittingly shared child porn with police sent to jail
James A. King, 67, of Simcoe, blamed getting involved in the pornography on loneliness.
Article content
Editor’s note: The following story deals with a description of child pornography.
A Southwestern Ontario senior who pleaded guilty last September to both having and sharing child pornography was sent to jail despite his lawyer’s argument that he should get an at-home sentence.
Recommended Videos
tap here to see other videos from our team.
Ontario senior who unwittingly shared child porn with police sent to jail Back to video
tap here to see other videos from our team.
James A. King, 67, of Simcoe was caught after using Kik, an online application developed in Canada, to unwittingly share pornographic images of children with an undercover police officer.
While King’s defence lawyer suggested the man could serve a two-year sentence in the community, Justice Elizabeth Wilson said community service for such crimes was reserved for only the most exceptional of circumstances, which she didn’t see in this case.
“Mr. King made child pornography available, in addition to possessing it, in two separate offences,” the judge said, noting the man’s “low to moderate” collection of photos and videos still contained children as young as infants and included bondage.
The judge acknowledged King was known for his good character otherwise, had no prior record and had immediately worked toward a guilty plea, sparing the court and staff from going through the details of what had been found.
In January 2024, officers from the Ontario Provincial Police child sexual exploitation unit and the OPP digital forensic unit got a search warrant for King’s home and seized several devices, locating 95 unique images and 16 videos considered criminal, said King.
“He’s expressed regret for his actions and denied any attractions to children in a sexual manner,” the judge said, noting King blamed getting involved in the pornography on loneliness.
“He doesn’t fully understand how he got this far into it and is sorry for the harm he’s caused to his family and anyone involved in child pornography. He assures the court this will never happen again.”
King was sentenced to two years less a day in jail plus two years of probation.
He will be on the sexual offenders register for 20 years, is restricted in his use of the internet for 10 years and was given a list of places he must avoid because of the likelihood of there being children there.
SGamble@postmedia.com
@EXPSGamble
Postmedia is committed to maintaining a lively but civil forum for discussion. Please keep comments relevant and respectful. Comments may take up to an hour to appear on the site. You will receive an email if there is a reply to your comment, an update to a thread you follow or if a user you follow comments. Visit our Community Guidelines for more information.