Winnipeg man, 39, sentenced to 14 years in prison for child luring, child pornography charges

A Winnipeg man has been sentenced to 14 years in prison and is banned from using computers for life after pleading guilty to numerous sexual offences involving children, police say.

David Thomas Pearson, 39, pleaded guilty to five counts of child luring, one count of possessing child pornography and one count of failing to comply with a prohibition order, following an investigation led by the RCMP's internet child exploitation (ICE) unit that started in 2019, a Tuesday RCMPnews release says.

The investigation was launched after RCMP were notified that Pearson had violated his parole conditions by possessing a smartphone.

Investigators obtained the phone and found that Pearson had been posing as a teen to talk to girls from the U.S. and Canada, asking them to send nude images and videos of themselves. The victims ranged in age from 11 to 15 years old, police said.

Pearson was arrested and charged on Jan. 1, 2020, and was sentenced last week after pleading guilty to the charges.

In addition to time in custody, Pearson also received a lifetime ban from having contact with persons under the age of 16, as well as accessing the internet or computers.