An American man will spend a year in a Canadian jail after pleading guilty to possessing child pornography on Monday.
Roger Mead was attempting to enter Canada on Oct. 20 at North Portal, when Canadian Border Security agents investigated several storage devices he had in his vehicle.
Mead refused to provide a password to access his computer, but border agents accessed the USB storage devices and found what they considered to be pornographic material involving children. The equipment was seized and the items were sent to the Saskatchewan Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) unit.
The Crown prosecutor noted there were more than 4,000 images and files that were considered child porn, with the majority of them depicting girls under 10 years old. The prosecutor said the officers didn't examine all the storage devices after it was found there was a significant amount of illegal material in Mead's possession.
The computer and storage units were seized and are forfeited by Mead, following Monday's guilty plea, when he appeared in Estevan provincial court in shackles.
Upon Mead's release from jail after a year, the 41-year-old will be subject to a three-year probation order, where he will be under a number of conditions, including a mandatory DNA order and being a subject within the Canadian Sex Offender Registry.
He will also not be able to possess or use a computer or other device that accesses the Internet, will not be allowed to have contact with anyone under 16 and is prohibited from attending a playground, school or other place where children can be expected to be. Mead will also receive assessments and any necessary programming for sexual offences during his probation period.
Presiding Judge Karl Bazin commented on the seriousness of the offence, saying Mead's yearlong incarceration, even though he has no criminal history, is an indicator of how serious society considers these crimes against vulnerable children.
With the Crown proceeding by indictment on the charge, Mead's Legal Aid defence counsel noted the period of jail ranges between six months and five years, calling the 12-month jail term appropriate for a first-time offender like Mead.
