Child pornography collection was 'relatively modest' so no jail, judge rules
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WARNING: Graphic details
A British Columbia man scored the break of a lifetime on child pornography charges after a judge deemed his collection of filth “relatively modest.”
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Mark Keenan, 54, was convicted on child pornography charges but will be allowed to serve his sentence in the community. He pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography in Kelowna provincial court.
He was sentenced to two years less a day. For the first 18 months, he will be under house arrest. Afterward, he will have a 6 p.m. curfew.
Keenan was arrested in 2018 after cops received information about his activities on social media website Tumblr. Investigators found six child porn images, depicting boys between the ages of nine and 16, on his devices. None of the images showed penetration, the court heard.
But the small number of images “sets this case apart,” Judge Andrew Tam said.
“Although there is no strict mathematical relationship between the size of the collection and the length (or indeed type) of sentence, the size of a collection has often been held to be an aggravating factor,” Tam wrote in his decision.
“It stands to reason then that a modest collection, while not a mitigating factor, could nevertheless distinguish it from other cases.”
One image pictured an adult male and a child victim with their hands on each other’s genitals.
For his part, Kennan insisted he was not sexually attracted to children. He had stumbled on the images in 2017 while trolling the web for “sunsets and beaches.” He said he was appalled.
His mission would be to lure pedophiles out of their caves on his Tumblr blog. Generous as he was on the sentencing, the judge did not believe him.
The judge said Keenan held onto the images for more than a year and engaged in conversations with other users expressing an “interest in sexual activities with children.”
Tam wrote: “They are unnecessarily graphic and go well beyond what one may expect in order to identify who may be a paedophile on the website. His participation in these conversations seems too genuinely earnest for it to be a ruse.”
The judge found that, on the balance of probabilities, Keenan’s sick collection and conversations pointed to a man looking to indulge in his own sexual gratification.
Tam added: “The most damning evidence will come from Mr. Keenan’s own mouth. Upon his arrest, he gave a voluntary statement to police. When confronted with the Tumblr messages and asked if he were aroused by them, he replied, ‘I mean, in a way, it’s hard not to be.’”
But Keenan’s “relatively modest” collection, lack of a prior criminal record and supportive letters were mitigating factors in coming to his conclusions, Tam said.
He will be on probation for a year after the end of his sentence. He also must submit a DNA sample.
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