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Man charged for child porn admits to sexually touching young boys

Oct 17, 2018 | 8:00 PM

*WARNING – Some readers may find details in this story disturbing**

 

Incredibly troubling details were revealed in Red Deer provincial court on Wednesday during sentencing submissions for a man charged child porn and sexual assault offences.

Stuart Hunt, 55, of Red Deer has pleaded guilty to making, accessing and distributing child pornography as well as sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching and sexual assault.

According to the agreed statement of facts for the case, it was early 2017 when three different social media platforms reported illegal uploads of child pornography to the Cyber Tipline at the United States National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children. The internet protocol (IP) address for the uploads was tracked to Hunt’s residence in Red Deer and reported to the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) team for further investigation.

On January 17, 2018 Hunt was arrested at his home and charged with possessing, making and accessing child porn. Police seized 26 items including cell phones, computers and a 264-page book described as a “handbook for like-minded predators to exploit children.” A hidden camera was also discovered in Hunt’s home.

Hunt’s child porn collection featured thousands of images and videos of boys as young as toddlers.

During his interview with police, Hunt disclosed he’d engaged in actual hands-on sexual contact with four young boys.

He told police that he’d touched the penis of a boy, six or seven-years-old, who was sleeping over at his house. Hunt said he invited the boy to touch his penis and that he took pictures of the boy’s penis and buttocks and shared them on at least one occasion.

Hunt also admitted to exposing his penis and touching the penis of a three-year-old boy, and to sexually touching two boys aged 11 and 12.

The incidents took place between 1996 and 2005 while Hunt was living in Oyen.

Police re-arrested Hunt on Feb. 1, after interviewing a number of Hunt’s alleged victims. Two of the victims, now adults, said Hunt offered them money in exchange for not telling anyone what had happened. One of them said Hunt offered him alcohol and “weed” on one occasion when he was about 13. A third victim said he was too young at the time of the offences to have any recollection of them.

Though he confessed to the long list of offences, Hunt also told police the boys involved all “wanted to be touched” and that they in fact “started the sexual contact.”

Aggravating factors cited by Crown prosecutor Donna Spaner during Wednesday’s hearing included the size and depravity of Hunt’s child porn collection, the ages of the children depicted, the duration of time (over 20 years) over which the material was collected, and Hunt’s carelessness when it came to controlling his child porn collection. Spader also said Hunt showed a lack of remorse for his actions involving the boys.

Defence lawyer Dan Wilson admitted, “Nothing this court can do can undo the harm that has been created.”

Wilson did also note that Hunt pleaded guilty at the earliest possible opportunity, and that Hunt hopes to get professional help while incarcerated to resolve his “deep-rooted issues.”

“There will be considerable time for professionals to truly, hopefully reprogram him before he is released… which at some point he will be,” Wilson said.

Court also learned on Wednesday that Hunt breached his release conditions following his January arrest by sending an apology letter to the family of one of his victims.

“I am extremely ashamed and remorseful for the actions I have done and the crimes I have committed,” Hunt said when given the opportunity to speak Wednesday.

He told his victims, who were not in attendance, “You should not have these feelings because of the things I did to you… I hope each of you can recover from what I did to you.”

The Crown is seeking a 12-year sentence while the defence is asking that Hunt serve 10 behind bars.

Judge Jim Glass will announce his decision on Nov. 26.