Shawn Michael Rhode was on a long-term offender supervision order when he was caught with child porn in 2022.
Shawn Michael Rhode was under supervision in the community — part of a long-term offender sentence he received for child pornography offences — when he was caught possessing more child pornography in 2022.
On Friday, Rhode, 44, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child porn and two counts of breaching his long-term supervision order.
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Justice Mona Dovell ordered a dangerous offender assessment. The Crown is seeking an assessment to determine if Rhode should receive another long-term offender sentence, or be sentenced as a dangerous offender.
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The assessment report will be spoken to in May, and a dangerous offender hearing has been set for June 2025, defence lawyer Mike Nolin confirmed.
When someone is sentenced as a long-term offender, they are supervised in the community for a lengthy period of time after their sentence is over. Dangerous offender designations allow judges to impose either determinate or indeterminate sentences.
Both designations are based on a pattern of concerning or harmful behaviour that puts the public at risk because it can’t be controlled.
Nolin said his client was charged with possessing child porn on June 6, 2022 based on four dropbox images that were flagged. Then on Aug. 9, 2022, more child porn was discovered on his devices during the execution of a search warrant.
At the time, Rhode was on conditions that allowed him to access the internet while supervised, but prohibited him from possessing any devices that he could use to access the internet on his own.
In 2016, Rhode was designated a long-term offender and sentenced to six years in prison followed by 10 years of supervision after he was convicted of possessing, accessing and making child porn.
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Court heard several child sex abuse images were found on his computer when police searched his home as part of a sexual assault investigation in 2013.
After a trial in 2015, he was acquitted of sexual assault against a six-year-old girl.
His criminal record also includes prior convictions for indecent exposure and possession of child pornography.
In his 2016 sentencing decision, Justice Shawn Smith noted that Rhode told report writers he only considers pedophilia to be problematic because it gets him into legal trouble — not because he views it as harmful to children.
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