A North Okanagan sex offender convicted in Texas on seven child pornography related counts will be sentenced next month.
Harvey James Pelland, 76, will be sentenced in Abilene, Texas on Sept. 21.
He was found guilty in April of two counts of possessing child pornography and five counts of receiving a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
Each count of child pornography possession carries a maximum statutory sentence of 10 years imprisonment, and each of the other five counts carries a statutory sentence of not less than five years, and not more than 20 years.
Pelland has been in custody since his arrest on April 6, 2009 while he was living in the town of Big Spring, near Lubbock, Texas, on a charge of failing to register as a sex offender.
He pleaded guilty to that charge in July ‘09.
The U.S. government presented evidence in a trial in April that in March and April of 2009, Pelland possessed images of child pornography and received child porn images from the Internet while living in Big Spring.
Pelland was convicted in Vernon Provincial Court in 2007 of possessing child pornography after setting up a video camera in a Lumby area home he shared with a woman and her young daughter in order to film the girl.
Upon his release from prison, Pelland was to be placed on three years probation with strict conditions, which included not to attend a public park.
Pelland skipped the North Okanagan and went down to the Lower Mainland, where he was arrested in White Rock coming out of a park.
In November, 2007, Pelland reported to a probation office in Vernon for the final time.
Canada Customs made Vernon RCMP aware that on Nov. 20, 2007, Pelland – who holds dual citizenship – had crossed the border into the U.S.
