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Nanaimo man caught with more than 200,000 child porn images to be sentenced

Crown says Aaron Macrae recorded video of children on buses and at his workplace
19491167_web1_Nanaimo-Courthouse-005
Courthouse in Nanaimo. (News Bulletin file)

A Nanaimo man who was said to have more than 200,000 images and video of child pornography and who recorded video of children while on buses is waiting to find out his sentence.

Aaron Macrae, 35, was charged with counts of possession of, making or publishing and importing or distributing child pornography for incidents that took place between Jan. 1, 2015 and April 25, 2018. Macrae pleaded guilty to charges of possession and importing and distributing in front of Judge Brian Harvey on April 16 and saw his sentencing hearing today at provincial court in Nanaimo. Nick Barber, Crown counsel, sought a jail sentence of three years.

The hearing did not conclude by end of day Thursday and no continuation date has yet been set.

Macrae came to the attention of the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit in April 2018 due to an image uploaded to Instagram, according to Barber. A warrant was executed in June 2018 and 13 devices were seized.

RELATED: Man alleged to have 250,000 child porn images pleads guilty

On top of the excessive amount of items of child pornography, which included images of toddlers, Barber said Macrae displayed voyeuristic behaviour when he video-recorded girls in malls, on buses and through online chat. Macrae also video recorded the children of customers through his job at a cellphone shop, said Barber.

Macrae fled the Island after the search warrant was completed, but was arrested in November 2018 in Abbotsford. Barber said reports indicate Macrae has been actively seeking child porn for about 10-20 years.

Macrae was represented by Martin Screech.

Barber stayed the charge of making or publishing child pornography.

More to come.

READ ALSO: Child porn investigation numbers climb in Nanaimo


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Karl Yu

About the Author: Karl Yu

After interning at Vancouver Metro free daily newspaper, I joined Black Press in 2010.
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