Local ran child-porn forums

Photo: Colin Dacre

Crown prosecutors are aiming to lock up a Penticton man for six to eight years for launching and administering a pair of child-porn websites on the darkweb.

Tyler Walker, 21, pleaded guilty to importing and distrubuting child pornography in connection to an investigation conducted by the RCMP, US Homeland Security and Toronto Police.

Walker was instrumental in the launch of two child-porn sites, called “Child’s Play” and “Hurt Meh” on the darkweb — an anonymous part of the internet accessible only with special software, Penticton court heard Wednesday.

He initially posted, shared and commented on videos of girls as young as two being sexually abused by older men on the “Gift Box Exchange” in 2015 — another child-porn site — before collaborating with users to launch “Child’s Play” in 2016.

To join “Child’s Play,” users were required to submit a photo of their child with a sign containing the website name, date and desired username.

Within two weeks of launch, more than 2,500 users had registered and were swapping child pornography.

“This is how child pornography gets created and distributed in large numbers,” Crown counsel Andrew Vandersluys said, adding such websites often operate for a short period of time, but grow very rapidly.

As an administrator for Child’s Play, Walker deleted a video from the platform on one occasion, labelling it as “hurtcore” — child porn displaying significant violence or distress of the child.

Shortly afterwards, however, Walker was seen online discussing the development of a darkweb site dedicated entirely to hurtcore, eventually dubbed "Hurt Meh."

“They saw a real market for this level of violent child pornography, that they didn’t want exchanged on Child’s Play,” Vandersluys said.

Walker was arrested at his Penticton home  on March 15, 2017 where he was living with his single mother, who was completely unaware what her son was doing.

When police entered Walker’s bedroom, the Child’s Play website was open on his computer. He was one of several people arrested as a part of the international investigation.

His mother was seated in the courtroom, breaking down into tears several times throughout the proceedings.

Vandersluys argued that Walker’s websites enabled the sexual abuse of children, adding that his offences should be viewed far more severe than a typical “street-level” consumer of child porn. He asked for a six to eight year sentence.

Defence lawyer Norm Yates asked that his client be sentenced to a time that would keep him in the provincial system; less than two years.

“It’s not been easy for Tyler since he’s been at OCC (Okanagan Correctional Centre),” he said, referring to a severe beating Walker took two weeks after being incarcerated from other inmates who found out what he was in jail for.

Walker has spent most of his time in segregation for his own protection, but has found god and accepted responsibility for his actions behind bars, Yates added.

“I don’t know where to start, I don’t know what to say,” Walker said, via videolink from OCC. “I have a future ahead of me, a lot of life ahead of me. I don’t expect sympathy from anyone for what I’ve done.”

He reiterated that he would receive the best treatment in the provincial system, specifically Ford Mountain prison in Chilliwack.

Justice Gale Sinclair reserved sentencing for a later date, saying he’s got to “think about this for a bit.”

Walker has already spent 274 days in prison, good for 411 days of pretrial credit.