Substance abuse was a factor in an Abbotsford man’s decision to access child pornography, his defence lawyer said during a sentencing hearing on Friday in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
Everett (Chipper) Block was handed an 18-month jail term and two years’ probation by Justice Austin Cullen for four charges – importing or distributing child porn, making child porn, and two counts of possessing child porn.
Defence lawyer Brian Coleman had sought the mandatory minimum sentence of one year, and referenced a psychologist’s report that said Block’s offences were “related to the use of cocaine, and one thing led to another.”
Coleman said Block, who had been out on bail since charges were laid in 2009 and was subject to random drug testing, no longer uses cocaine nor had he filled a doctor’s prescription for medical marijuana.
Block, 48, has also undergone counselling to deal with his issues, and the reports say he is at a low risk to re-offend, Coleman said.
“He feels confident that he is completely rehabilitated,” he said, adding that Block had agreed to participate in any further counselling that was ordered.
Crown prosecutor Sylvia Domaradzki recommended a term of three to four years, saying that child pornography “depends on a simple equation of supply and demand,” and viewing or sharing such material perpetuates the sexual abuse and exploitation of children.
Domaradzki cited a portion of the psychological assessment that suggested Block has a lack of insight and remorse about his offences. She said a longer sentence was needed to adequately address the issues of denunciation and deterrence.
Block, a former realtor, went to trial on seven charges and was convicted in May of four of them.
He was arrested after a police officer in Australia posed online as a person interested in child porn. Block sent the officer two photos of naked children and a short video of a girl performing a sexual act on a man.
The exchanges were traced to Block’s home in Abbotsford, and Canadian authorities were notified. Abbotsford Police went to the residence on April 24, 2008, but only drove onto the property and left.
They later found out that their brief appearance had been captured on Block’s home surveillance video camera.
They returned with a search warrant the following day and found four computers, all missing their hard drives, which were never located.
A fifth older-model computer was found in another area of the home and, of the 12,000 images stored on it, an investigator recovered 219. About 40 of those were found to constitute child porn, while about another 30 were considered child erotica.
Also discovered were online chat sessions that Block had with other people in which their “role playing” involved explicit descriptions of sexual acts being performed with characters as young as nine. The offences occurred between 2003 and 2008.