WARNING: This story discusses disturbing material
A Langley man has been convicted of a five charges linked to making and possessing child sexual abuse material, following a trial in B.C. Supreme Court in New Westminster.
James Karl Ross was found guilty of possession child pornography, transmitting child pornography, making sexually explicit material available to a child, luring, and accessing child pornography.
Justice John Gibb-Carsley outlined the reasons for the verdict in his April 1 ruling.
The investigation began when American child-exploitation officers became aware of possible child sexual abuse material (CSAM) coming from an internet address in Langley, and the local RCMP were assigned to take on the case.
There were three linked internet protocol (IP) addresses, two of which were mobile, and one of which was linked to a physical address in Langley.
Officers followed a resident at the property to work, arrested him, and seized his iPhone on May 3, 2022.
Police searched the property the same day and seized an iPad from his room. Data from both devices was extracted for analysis. Police found thousands of pages worth of images, videos, and photos of the accused “in various states of undress” as well as GPS data that showed where the devices were being used at certain times.
Gibb-Carsley noted that the images included dozens of images of children under the age of 18, some of children under 10 years old, and one of an infant under one year old.
There are also numerous chats in which the accused speaks to young teenagers, which Gibb-Carsley described as “disturbing and exploitative.” Those chats were the basis of the luring charge.
Ross’s lawyer admitted that there was CSAM on the devices, but argued that there was not enough evidence to prove that Ross had knowledge of the images and video, or that he accessed them. Ross’s argument was that an expert witness was needed to testify on the report about the data extracted from the devices.
Gibb-Carsley did not accept that argument.
“I have no doubt that the circumstantial evidence taken together leaves an irresistible inference that it is the accused who regularly used the devices,” he wrote.
The Crown prosecutors on the case offered corroborating evidence to show that the time, date, and location of the devices were correct.
Among other things, chat logs on the devices match up with times when the accused was at home in Langley, and linked up photos and social media posts to Ross’s devices.
Ross, a former semi-professional hockey player, has not yet been sentenced.