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Red Deer mom sent to prison for child porn

Sexual assault against son among charges
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A Red Deer mother was sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison for sexually assaulting her son as well as making and distributing child pornography that included a photo of her sexually assaulting her son.

The 44-year-old woman, who can’t be named to protect the identity of her victim, sent photos of her four-year-old son over the Internet to Peter Allan Cash of the United States.

Investigators in Idaho alerted local police that a Red Deer boy was at risk in May 2016 based on evidence seized from a separate investigation. At the time Cash was on his way to Canada and has since been sentenced in the U.S. to 16 years in prison without parole for his crimes.

The Red Deer woman was arrested at the licensed daycare where she worked in June 2016.

On Thursday Judge Jim Glass saw the 10 or so images she sent to Cash before he sentenced her to two years for sexual assault to be served consecutively with the two other charges to which she also pleaded guilty.

She received concurrent sentences of one-and-a-half years each for making child porn and for distributing child porn.

Glass said while there were mitigating circumstances like her early guilty pleas, she also was in a position of trust and the assault and making of porn occurred in the home.

Crown prosecutor Carolyn Ayre recommended five years incarceration.

“Who knows how many times her son will be re-victimized,” Ayre said about the possible distribution of the pornographic images sent to Cash who was to become the woman’s husband.

And her son was not the only victim because the woman searched and accessed child porn for Cash. Some of the images were computer generated but they still fuel the child porn industry, Ayre said.

Defence lawyer Kevin Sproule recommended an 18-month sentence. He said according to the psychological report Cash took advantage of his client who suffered traumatic emotional scaring from her father. The report also said she was at low risk to reoffend.

szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com