'Sexting' earns Burin Peninsula man conviction for possessing child porn

A young man from the Burin Peninsula has been convicted of having nude photos of a 13-year-oldon his cell phone, photos found whenpolice searched his phone as part of a drug investigation.

Thomas John Brown, 20, was convicted last week at provincial court in Grand Bankof being in possession of child pornography and of using a computer to facilitate the offence.

All of his communication with the girlwas by way of text messages, exchanged over the internet.- Judge Harold Porter

Brown, who was 18 at the time of the offence, had persuaded a nearly 14-year-old girl to send himsexually explicit photos of herselfdespite the two never meeting in person or talking over the phone.

The conversation between the two began after Brown added the girl on Facebook, and soon it escalated into the two exchanging photos through text message between December 2013 and February 2014.

"The messages from the girl to the accused reveal anavet, while those from the accused to the girl were overtly and graphically sexual innature," Judge Harold Porter said in his written decision.

Genitalia as background photo

Brown claimed he did nothing wrong, even though he said on the stand he knew the girl was young.

She had told him she was nearly 15-years-old, but in fact,she was a month shy of her 14th birthday.

Police came across the child pornography while searching Brown's phone in a drug investigation.

Brown claimed he didn't show anyone photos of the girl, but had her genitalia set as hisbackground photo on his unlocked cell phone.

When questioned about why he asked for nude photos from an underage girl, Brown said his friends had similar photos of their girlfriends.

Brown also said his friends shared those photos, but said he did not show anyone photos of the victim in this case.

Inconsistencies in testimony

The Grade 8 studenttestified she sent the picturesbecause she had low self-esteem, adding she made excuses not to send nude photos but eventually did.

"The dialogue in this case was purely digital," Porter noted."The accused has never met the girl inperson, or even spoken to her on the telephone. All of his communication with the girlwas by way of text messages, exchanged over the internet."

Porter said Brown was not a credible witness and had inconsistencies in his testimony.

"The number of times that [Brown]said that he did not know the answer to simple questions put to him by his own counselwas remarkable," Portersaid.

His case will be called again on January 13, for arguments on sentencing.