A 55-year-old Parksville man pleaded guilty to possession and distribution of child pornography Monday in Nanaimo Provincial Court.
Robert Berry has been sentenced to six months in jail with a three- year probation order.
In March, Oceanside RCMP executed a search warrant for a Parksville residence after the Integrated Child Exploitation (ICE) team alerted Mounties that a man was suspected to be in possession of child pornography. Berry was subsequently arrested and charges were recommended against him.
“The RCMP takes child pornography... very seriously,” said Oceanside RCMP Cpl. Jesse Foreman. The ICE was forwarded information from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations. “The internet has no borders so these crimes have to be addressed using partners worldwide,” said Foreman.
U.S. Department of Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson Danielle Bennett was unable to comment on the specifics of the investigation, but noted “cases of child pornography are global in nature and the RCMP is our partner in the fight against child exploitation.”
Bennett said often when dealing with child exploitation investigations the victim and perpetrator are in different countries. “This crime type requires a lot of global co-operation,” she said. “It requires law enforcement to work together across countries.”
According to Statistics Canada, the number of police-reported sexual violations against children is on the rise. In total, there were approximately 4,500 police-reported sexual violations against children in 2014, about 300 more than in 2013 and resulting in a rate increase of six per cent.