A 28-year-old man who was convicted of 11 sex-related charges in March of this year will spend four years in prison.
Justice Patrick Hurley, who had heard sentencing submissions back in July, issued his punishment against Tanner Neron in Belleville Court on Friday, also adding a number of conditions outside of the jail time.
Those include having no contact or communication with the victims or their families while he is in prison, along with a 10 year ban on attending a public park, swimming area, community centre or school, where someone under the age of 16 might be present.
He also must not seek, obtain, or continue in any employment or volunteer in a position of trust or authority towards someone under 16, or communicate with anyone under 16 by electronic means, except family members.
Neron also faces a 10 year weapons ban, must provide a sample to the DNA data bank, forfeit any electronic devices seized by police and be added to the sex offender registry for life.
The offences happened between August 2015 and September 2017 while Neron was working as a camp counsellor at the Belleville YMCA and as a minor hockey coach in Quinte West.
In issuing his sentence, Hurley noted aggravating factors such as the age and number the victims, as well as the impact on them and their families, along with the repetitive and brazen nature of the offences, and the fact that a pre-sentence report found Neron to be at an “above-average risk to reoffend”.
Justice Hurley did consider mitigating factors including that Neron is relatively young and has no criminal record, comes from a supportive family, has complied with bail conditions and has graduated post-secondary education and held down steady work before his arrest.
Hurley told court that “bodes well for his future, dependent on the completion of rehabilitation programs”, which will be available to him in prison, should he choose to accept them.
He went on to tell Neron that he has “received a very serious sentence and any future repetition of any offence involving a child will result in a much, much longer sentence, so be guided by that”.
Justice Hurley also told court that “a penitentiary sentence for a first time offender is rare” and that “it will be particularly difficult for Mr. Neron given his age and the offences he’s been convicted of. But he committed serious crimes against several children and did so while pretending to be their friend. It was predatory behaviour”.
He said, “It is impossible to predict the long term impact of these crimes on the victims. But fortunately, the young men have strong family support, were impressive witnesses and appear determined to overcome what he did to them.”
There was also some argument about the constitutionality of minimum sentences for some of those offences, following some recent higher court decisions, which were taken into account in Hurley’s decision as well.
