A North Okanagan sex offender convicted in Texas on seven child pornography related counts could spend the rest of his life behind bars.
Harvey James Pelland, 76, was sentenced in Abilene, Texas Wednesday to 12 years and five months in jail. That is to be followed by 10 years of supervised release.
Pelland was found guilty in March of two counts of possessing child pornography and five counts of receiving a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexually explicit conduct.
He 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.
Canada Customs made Vernon RCMP aware that on Nov. 20, 2007, Pelland – who holds dual citizenship – had crossed the border into the U.S.
