A man arrested in a police investigation has pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography and has received an 18-month prison sentence.
Graham James Lackey, 51, was sentenced at provincial court in Nanaimo on Thursday with Leanne Mascolo, Crown counsel, and Justin Dosanjh, representing Lackey, agreeing on a joint submission.
Lackey came to the attention of law enforcement in late December and was arrested in June, according to Mascolo. She said the internet child exploitation investigation led police to an IP address on Selby Street. When officers attended in June to execute a search warrant, a woman told police that Lackey lived next door and paid her to use her Wi-Fi. It was learned that Lackey had pawned his computer. Police seized the computer from the broker and three images were determined to be child pornography.
In her decision, Judge Justine Saunders said she felt the joint submission was appropriate. Among mitigating factors, Lackey’s guilty plea can be viewed as a sign of remorse and it was entered fairly early.
At the same time, Saunders said an aggravating factor was Lackey’s criminal record, which she said dated back to 2000. Saunders referenced previous incidents when Lackey was found guilty of exposing his genitals to people under the age of 16; he was found guilty in a February 2008 incident in Enderby, B.C. and a February 2003 incident in Courtenay.
Lackey also was found guilty of child pornography possession from a December 2009 incident in Powell River.
While Lackey received an 18-month jail sentence, he did receive credit for time served, and will serve 444 days. Once released, he will be placed on two years’ probation and among conditions placed on him, he will be barred for life from attending public places – parks, pools, playgrounds, school grounds, community centres – where people under 16 years of age attend. He is also forbidden from being alone with anyone under the age of 16.
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