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After receiving his jail sentence, James Szwagierczak stood up in court and hugged a friend and his dad before a sheriff handcuffed him and led him to the cells.
Szwagierczak, 32, appeared in Moose Jaw provincial court on Feb. 3 and pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography, while the Crown stayed one charge of distributing child pornography.
Through a joint sentence, he received nine months in a provincial jail and 24 months of probation after. Some probation conditions include taking sex offender programming, providing a DNA sample, forfeiting his devices, and is prohibited for five years from going near parks, playgrounds, daycares or swimming pools where youths under 18 are.
Further, he cannot: take a job or volunteer position with authority over youths under age 18, contact youths unless supervised by an adult or through incidental contact in public, or use any device with storage.
However, he can visit the Moose Jaw Public Library and St. Andrew’s United Church, does not need to register as a sex offender, can use devices without internet access, and can use a computer for work or education.
Police became aware of Szwagierczak’s activities after a third party contacted them, explained Crown prosecutor Rob Parker. Through investigations, officers determined that Szwagierczak possessed child porn — pictures and videos — between Feb. 10, 2020 and March 16, 2021.
Officers executed a search warrant at Szwagierczak’s home on March 16, 2021, Parker continued. They gave him a copy of the warrant, informed him why they were searching, told him he was not under arrest and could stay or go.
While police searched, he was co-operative, told them where they could find the material, gave them passwords to his devices and provided a hyperlink to where the material was stored online.
Police eventually seized two phones and a laptop with 36 unique videos and 64 images, of which 44 were unique images.
Szwagierczak — who had no prior criminal record — went to police headquarters on Sept. 21, 2021 after learning they planned to charge him, said Parker. He later spoke to a legal aid lawyer and admitted to watching child porn.
A jail sentence of nine months is lower than what might normally be given — even though the mandatory minimum is six months, the Crown continued. Legal counsels agreed to this sentence because Szwagierczak co-operated with the police and had few images. In comparison, police normally deal with hundreds and thousands of images in such cases.
“While even a single image of this type of material is offensive and extremely damaging to the victims … as long as individuals continue to watch and access this sort of material, children will continue to be victimized,” Parker added.
Compared to others charged with child porn crimes, Szwagierczak’s offence ranks near the bottom for seriousness, said Legal Aid lawyer Tyne Hagey. Further, the small number of images and co-operation are in his favour.
Szwagierczak has already met with social agencies that work with child porn offenders, acquired a support network of friends, and is making plans for his future rehabilitation, she added. The library and church have also become important to him.
“… I am very remorseful and it’s not going to happen again,” said Szwagierczak. “Out of this, there has been some positive things that have happened. I’ve realized I need to work on myself, and I’ve been building a relationship with my dad.”
Judge Brian Hendrickson accepted the joint submission and agreed to waive the victim surcharge fee.
