Calgary man, 63, sentenced for child porn, sexual relationship with boy
Lucie Edwardson | CBC News | Posted: April 30, 2018 9:03 PM | Last Updated: April 30, 2018
Laurence Bouwmeester met 14-year-old online, lured him to Lethbridge hotel
A 63-year-old Calgary man has been sentenced to four and a half years on charges of making and possessing child pornography, and sexually assaulting a 14-year-old boy.
Laurence Bouwmeester pleaded guilty earlier this month to the charges.
On Monday, Alberta Court of Queen's Bench Justice Beth Hughes told court that the man's "moral culpability is high" in this case.
She said that was why she chose to sentence him on the higher end of the Crown's five-year sentencing recommendation.
Bouwmeester was charged in 2016 after the teenager's parents came forward to police with evidence of sexually explicit correspondence between their teenage son and the man.
Court heard that after meeting the then-14-year-old online in 2014, the two exchanged sexually explicit messages, images and videos. They later arranged to meet at a hotel in Lethbridge, Alta.
22 videos
Once at the hotel, Bouwmeester engaged in sexual activity with the teen, which Bouwmeester video-recorded. In total, he made 22 child pornography videos, court heard.
Investigators seized about 70 electronic devices when they searched Bouwmeester's home. Those contained thousands of child pornography images and hundreds of child pornography videos of children ages of five and 15.
In addition to his four-and-a-half-year sentence, Hughes imposed a 10-year ban on Bouwmeester accessing any pornography online.
Defence lawyer Jim Lutz said he thought the justice's decision was "well reasoned."
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