Recent parolee charged with new child pornography offences

RCMP in Nova Scotia have charged a recent parolee with child pornography offences.

In a release Friday, police say that last month they were able to download a "significant amount" of child pornography from an individual sharing more than 77,000 suspected images and videos.

Police searched a home in Kingston, N.S., earlier this week and arrested Robert Caleb Lewis, 34. He faces two charges of possession of child pornography and one charge of transmitting child pornography.

Lewis was on parole after being sentenced in September 2020 to two years in a federal prison for one charge of possessing child pornography. Because he was on parole at the time of his latest arrest, Lewis is being held in custody for alleged parole violations.

Addicted to porn

In a report from the Parole Board of Canada issued in April just before his release, Lewis spoke of having an addiction to porn.

"You speak of being in a 'bad place', experiencing poor self-esteem, becoming isolated and family dependent," the board wrote.

"With few healthy social outlets and friends, reliance on the Internet and eventually pornography became problematic."

When arrested for his first offence, Lewis stated that viewing pornography, including disturbing images of non-sexual violence and images of young children, had been going on for years. 

"You gravitated between curious, disgusted and attracted," the board wrote. 

Sex offender registry

Lewis had expressed both shame and relief following his arrest and noted that he had been unable to access resources to assist with his addiction. The board had assessed him as a low risk to reoffend.

Lewis's name is already on the national sex offender registry, where it is to stay for 20 years.

He is due in Kentville provincial court on the new charges in October.