A judge lifted a 20-year sex offender registry order 10 years early because it had a “disproportionate impact” on con's life..The order was “grossly disproportionate to the public interest,” according to the judge who removed the man from the sex offender registry earlier in July..“I am concerned his continued registration will have the undesirable effect of undermining the significant positive progress [the offender] has made in his rehabilitation and reintegration in the community,” said Judge Murray Hinds in his July 15 decision..The Regina man pleaded guilty a decade ago to a child pornography charge after the police Internet Child Exploitation (ICE) Unit found him sharing files on LimeWire and a police investigator downloaded 46 files, of which 40 contained child porn. .In December 2009, the police searched his home and seized a computer..After analyzing his computer, the police found “a significant number of videos and photographs of child nudity and children involved in sexual activities with other children and adult males,” according to the judge’s ruling..The man admits to searching specifically for child pornography and pleaded guilty to sharing child porn images online..In 2012, the court sentenced him to one year in jail and three years of probation, plus a DNA production order and a 20-year Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA) order..The man was a chef in Regina and, after serving his sentence, he went back to being a chef in a small community outside of Saskatchewan..The judge’s decision did not provide the location..He owns a restaurant with 12 employees and lives with his wife, adult son, and infant daughter. .After serving his time, he attended counselling, probation sessions, and has not been “in trouble with the law,” wrote Hinds..“By any measure [the offender] is doing very well in the community since serving his time in jail for the offence of making available child pornography, (more than 10) years ago,” wrote Hinds..He was “found out” in his community to be on the sex offender registry list and faced discrimination for his child porn conviction..Part of SOIRA is the requirement to go to an RCMP detachment every year to check in with the registry..He waited in a line until the clerk asked him why he was there..Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Plexiglass barriers were installed at the RCMP station, requiring the man to “speak loudly” to tell the clerk why he was at the station..Other people waiting at the station could hear why he was there..In 2020, when he opened his restaurant, the news circulated that he was on the sex offender registry and the restaurant experienced a “downturn” in business and negative comments online..In 2021, two police cars went to his home with one car blocking the driveway and asked if he lived at that address..Outside a Walmart in 2022, a woman told him he was not welcome in the town..“You went to jail for child porn, didn’t you? I know you did. You are not welcome in this town. No one wants you here,” as noted in the judge’s decision..The judge ruled during his yearly check-in that “his privacy interests have been compromised.”.“It is possible that these public shaming actions are related to his yearly in-person reporting requirements at the small local RCMP detachment or that somehow, confidential information was shared with certain members of the public,” wrote the judge. .Because of the progress the offender made and the impact on his life, the judge removed him from the sex offender registry.
