Kelvin Grove man guilty of child porn charges

@PEIGuardian SUMMERSIDE – A 38-yearold Kelvin Grove man appeared in Summerside Supreme Court recently to answer to child pornography charges.

Raymond Nicholas Sullivan pleaded guilty to possessing and distributing child pornography when he appeared in front of P.E.I. Supreme Court Justice James Gormley.

Crown attorney John Diamond read the facts into the record.

On March 21, 2020, the RCMP Internet Child Exploitation Unit, part of the

Major Crimes Unit, on P.E.I. was contacted by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

The NCMEC photo recognition software had flagged images coming to an IP address on P.E.I.

The RCMP investigation revealed the IP address was in Kelvin Grove and belonged to

Sullivan.

On Aug. 21, 2020, RCMP executed a search warrant on the residence.

In the course of the search, Sullivan spontaneously told police his Skype username. He also said his Hotmail account was suspended due to inappropriate use.

Sullivan was co-operative during the search and handed over all his electronic devices.

He told police he used

Skype and Chatiw, looking for pictures “on the younger side, around 18 years”.

Sullivan told police he shared images back and forth on Chatiw and used the chat room program to request new images. He doesn’t know who sends them. Sometimes he would get images of people younger than 18.

At the time of the offences, he worked as a chief navigation officer for Northumberland Ferries - Bay Ferries Ltd.

He would access the images during downtime at work, save them on his phone and delete them before he returned home.

He has since lost his job. When searched, Sullivan had seven images on his phone that were considered child pornography.

He has no previous criminal record.

Justice Gormley, Crown attorney Diamond and defence attorney Connor Mullin viewed the images together in chambers. The disc containing the images was submitted as evidence.

Sullivan stood before the judge to plead guilty. He wore a cloth mask in deference to COVID-19 protocols. His voice broke more than once as he answered questions; the mask moved as he worked to control his expression. Afterwards, he sat and wiped his eyes.

Sentencing is scheduled for June 8 in Summerside Supreme Court.