Woman gets house arrest for helping child predator contact victims

A Saskatchewan woman who helped a Winnipeg child sex predator defy a court order barring him from contacting his victims has been granted a one-year conditional sentence.

Cynthia Wiebe, 41, pleaded guilty Wednesday to two counts of attempting to obstruct justice in connection to her efforts to aid Kevin Rose.

Rose, 44, pleaded guilty earlier this month to 19 offences involving five girls between the ages of 13 and 17 and a 22-year-old woman. The offences include multiple counts of procuring for a sexual purpose, permitting prostitution in his home, voyeurism, making child pornography and internet luring. Prosecutors are recommending he be sentenced to 21 years in prison.

Court heard Rose was in remand custody in late 2015 when, with Wiebe's help, he relayed multiple messages to one of his victims through Facebook.

The target of the messages "had blocked Mr. Rose's Facebook account prior to this, however Rose was able to pass messages through Ms. Wiebe by telephone," Crown attorney Alanna Littman told court.

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In one of the messages relayed by Wiebe, Rose offered the girl $100 for information about the police investigation into his activities.

In January 2016, while in custody at Brandon Correctional Centre, Rose, with Wiebe's help, spoke to another of his teen victims, by way of three-way calling. An audio recording of the call captured Rose trying to persuade the girl not to testify against him in court.

"I'm going to help you out through this whole thing," Rose said. "I'll help you out every month if you want. You are my number one on my list. Just so you know, if anyone asks you if me and you talked since (Rose's arrest), the answer is no."

Wiebe, who represented herself in court, said she did not know who the girls were when she agreed to help Rose contact them.

"I did, in messages to [one of the girls], say if you think he is doing something wrong, you need to go to police," Wiebe said.

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Judge Wanda Garreck ordered that Wiebe be confined to her home, except for work, for the first three months of her sentence, and observe a nightly curfew for the balance.

Rose, who continued to run a duct-cleaning business while in pre-sentence custody, targeted many of his victims through Facebook, where he portrayed himself as being free with drugs, booze, and money, court heard at a sentencing hearing earlier this month.

He came to police attention in November 2014 after the mother of a friend of one of his young victims reported finding "inappropriate" Facebook messagesbetween Rose and the then 15-year-old victim.

Court heard all five teen victims one of whom has since committed suicidewere Indigenous, had been in the care of Child and Family Servicesand had been chronic runaways. Four of the five had involvement in the youth justice system.

Rose is still awaiting sentencing.