Young teens video themselves, then get charged with making child porn!

GRAND PRAIRIE, Alta. -- Two girls, ages 13 and 14, were sentenced on charges of making child pornography and sexual counsel of a minor in Grande Prairie court Monday. The 13-year-old was also sentenced on one charge of distributing child pornography.

It was the first time Judge Morris Golden has heard of a child pornography case where both the victims and accused were of such a young age. To his knowledge, the first of its kind period.

Cheryl Schlecker of special prosecutions in Edmonton explained on June 25 the girls were at a Wembley residence, located 475 km northwest of Edmonton, babysitting a three-year-old boy and a four-year-old boy. The 13-year-old had been the family's regular babysitter.

Schlecker said there has been some finger pointing as to who initiated what, but the end result was the babysitters talking both boys into performing oral acts as photos were taken on a cellphone.

The 13-year-old sent text messages with some of the photos to several people. One of these recipients, about the same age, "sent copies of the three photographs to her father, who then contacted the police," said Schlecker.

Both girls were arrested later that day, while still babysitting.
 "It's the realization of every parent's worst fear," said Schlecker, echoed by the victims' mother, who read a victim impact statement aloud, stating, "my children were violated - I'm devastated."

She said as a result of this she refuses to leave her children in the care of others. "Once these electronic images are taken and distributed, they are out there ... there is no way to know, ever, if they've all been recovered," said Schlecker. "These are serious offences."

Neither defence attorney - Angela Howey for the 13-year-old and Chris Millsap for the 14-year-old – argued that point. "She has some immaturity problems, even for someone who's 13 ... I want to emphasize the youth of my client," said Howey, saying the girls actions were "spur of the moment."

Howey questioned her client's understanding of what she was doing at the time that she did it. "This is a terrible offence ... I don't know what she was thinking," said Howey.

Millsap said the situation was "very much out of character" for his client and something she does not feel good about.

"I think that regret and remorse were instantaneous," he said, pointing out his client had already deleted the images from her phone before police arrived. "She will continue with that regret and remorse, and she will continue to learn from this incident. "This is somebody who acted impulsively, and foolishly, and did some very real harm."

Judge Golden told the girls if they were adults they would be facing jail time starting at a year and up to five years. Instead, both girls got 24 months probation and a curfew. They must also do 100 hours community service.

By Damien Wood, QMI Agency