Penticton man gets five years for distributing child porn online

PENTICTON – A Penticton man will spend nearly four more years in jail for importing and distributing child pornography following a judge’s decision today.

Tyler David Walker pled guilty to the charge following an international investigation that focussed on the “dark web,” a part of the internet that's largely invisible to most users.

Between August 2015 and March 2017, police monitored sites dedicated to child porn, uncovering Walker as he exchanged comments, acted as moderator to child porn sites and assisted in the development of new child porn sites under a number of aliases.

Crown was seeking a term of between six to eight years, while defence lawyer Norm Yates asked Judge Gale Sinclair for time served plus two years less a day, followed by three years’ probation, so his client could get sex offender treatment at the Ford Mountain Correctional Centre near Chilliwack.

Judge Sinclair noted the seriousness of the crime and the harm to children in passing sentence, calling it a “unique balancing act."

"I must impose a sentence which stresses deterrence and denunciation, while not ignoring the need to attempt to rehabilitate this man, who has no prior criminal record," he said.

He also noted Walker’s youthful age at 21, cooperation with police and early guilty plea, calling Walker an “untreated pedophile,” according to evidence provided in a pre-sentence and psychological report.

Calling Crown’s sentence “somewhat excessive,” the judge sentenced Walker to a total of five years in jail, leaving 45 months new time to serve.

Following release, he will be placed on the sex offender registry for 20 years, and face 10 years of mandatory supervision.

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