Convicted sex offender to undergo dangerous offender assessment

A 34-year-old Coaldale, Alta. man who has been convicted four times of luring and sexually assaulting girls between the ages of 13 and 15 will undergo an assessment to see whether he is labelled as a dangerous offender.

Trevor Pritchard, 34, pleaded guilty April 9 to sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl last year.

The 60-day assessment was ordered Wednesday by Court of Queen's Bench Justice Rodney Jerke and will be done at the Southern Alberta Forensic Psychiatry Centre.

• Registered sex offender in Coaldale charged in more alleged sexual assaults

Once that is complete, the Crown will have seven days to decide whether to seek dangerous offender status for Pritchard or if he should be labelled as a long-term offender.

A long-term offender designation would mean 10 years of supervision after he is released, while a dangerous offender status means an indefinite prison sentence and parole ineligibility for at least seven years.

Victim threatened

An agreed statement of facts presented to the court says a 15-year-old girl went to Lethbridge police in January 2017 with the allegations.

The two had met through social media several months earlier and had begun communicating by text message.

She agreed to meet him on the morning of Jan. 17, 2017, believing he would take her to a job interview.

Instead, she was taken to his home in Coaldale, where the sexual assault occurred.

He then took the girl back to her home, where he threatened to kill her if she went to the authorities.

The girl told her mother about the assault hours later and police were called.

His home was searched and electronic devices seized.

Previous convictions

Pritchard'sguilty plea was his fourth conviction for sexual assault against a minor. He was previously convicted in 2004, 2009 and 2010, being sentenced to 30 and 44 months respectively in the latter two cases.

Pritchard is scheduled to return to court July 23 for a review of progress of the assessment.

He is also scheduled to go on trial in November, relating to two 15-year-old girls who came forward with allegations after he was charged in the latest case.

He is facing two counts of sexual assault, two counts of child luring, and one count of possession of child pornography.

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