Quinte Consolidated Courthouse in Belleville. (Quinte News File Photo: Nicole Kleinsteuber)
Three men have been sentenced on child pornography convictions in separate cases.
Former Belleville resident and investment advisor 64-year-old Gary Gorr had pleaded guilty to one count each of distributing and possessing child pornography.
Monday, Justice Stephen Hunter sentenced him to three years in a federal prison on each charge to be served concurrently.
City police charged Gorr in 2015 after finding evidence at his home that he’d been distributing child pornography through two file sharing sites under the user name ‘Nasty Daddy.’ There were 12 separate links that contained sexual images and videos of young boys and girls some as young as four years old. Court heard how as a result of the case Gorr lost his investment advisor license and was forced to sell his home and move to Toronto.
Later in the day, Hunter also sentenced 67-year-old Nicholas White of Belleville to 18 months jail time with three years probation for making, accessing and possessing child pornography. Officers found 57,000 unique images of child pornography at his home during a search. Burgess said it was the most images he’d ever seen seized in a case, adding it didn’t top the list but was near the one percentile across the province.
The two cases were linked by one tragic story of sexual abuse on a young victim who Crown Lee Burgess said is well-known in the child pornography circles as “Vicky.” Her video victim impact statement was played during each of the men’s sentencing hearings as images and videos of her being abused by her biological father were found with both Gorr and White.
The abuse started when “Vicky” was about eight and continued until the age of 12 and the images have been shared thousands of times said Burgess. Her father was eventually caught after fleeing overseas and brought back to the United States where he is serving up to 50 years in prison.
She described how she suffers from anxiety, paranoia and insomnia ‘knowing that people are watching the most horrifying moments of her life and taking grotesque pleasure in it.’
“The world came crashing down the day I learned that pictures of my abuse had been circulated on the Internet,” she confessed. “Since then, little has changed except my understanding that the distribution of these pictures grows bigger and bigger everyday and there’s nothing I can do about it.” The enormity of this has added to my grief and pain and given me paranoia. I wonder if the people I know have seen these images. I wonder if the men I pass in the grocery store have seen these images. I feel totally out of control. They are trading about my trauma like treats at a party and it feels like I am being raped all over by every one of them.”
The now mother of two explained how one man had stalked her, found her on social media and posted her address online. Another made a photo gallery of her on YouTube. “I fear for the safety of my children,” she admitted.
Another young victim known as “Jenny” who was forced to perform sexual acts with a dog was also seeking restitution from Gorr in the amount of $37,000.
Hunter expressed how there was a struggle in trying to understand how Gorr at 64, well educated and known for his community work would come to possess and share child pornography. During White’s sentencing, Hunter weighed each case against one another when making his final verdict. He pointed to how White didn’t possess a criminal record where Gorr did for assault and impaired driving. He said while White was sophisticated he had no knowledge that others were accessing his files.
“Gorr wanted to share he was in the game,” Hunter said. “White immediately admitted guilt, took on counselling and has the support of his family – everything you would want him to do. Gorr is a risk to re-offend where White is not.”
Both men were placed on the sex offender registry for life, must submit a sample to the DNA data bank, given a weapons prohibition, can’t attend or work at places where children frequent and must pay restitution to Vicky which will be donated to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection. (Gorr $5,000 and White $7,500)
Also Leslie William Saunders, known as Willie pleaded guilty to breaching two court orders.
The 50-year-old Belleville man had been convicted of two counts of child luring, and one count each of distributing and possessing child pornography. He was sentenced to 33 months in prison.
Two weeks after parole in March, Saunders breached both of his court orders by possessing Internet-capable devices and using them to contact his daughter in a Facebook message.
He was sentenced to 12 months in jail minus four months served in pre-trial custody.
