Yuni Kim
Assistant News Editor
Former Osgoode Hall Law School chief librarian N.P.has been acquitted of luring a child over the internet after a judge ruled that the evidence against him was not sufficient enough to make his actions criminal.
According to an article published in the National Post Oct. 7, P, who was charged with sexually luring a child on the internet in 2006, told presiding judge Justice Fletcher Dawson that he believed he was participating in a mutual act of consent with an adult woman who was posing as a 12-year-old girl as part of a fantasy.
The Crown’s case was hampered by the fact Sgt. David Deangelis of Peel Regional Police had seriously botched the undercover operation designed to prove P. intended to lure a minor to perform sexual acts.
Deangelis posed as fictional 12- year-old Stephania Cacciatore – he used the screen name “Stephania_ kittycat” for the adult-only chatroom conversations he had with N.P., but N.P. maintained he knew Stephania was not actually a child because she was always available to chat with him during regular school hours.
The National Post said he also explained that when “Stephania” sent photos of “herself,” they were in fact of a much older woman – in fact a 32-year-old female police officer – who was presumably “dressed up” to look younger.
P., said the he never intended to meet with the people that he spoke to online.
Justice Dawson wrote that given the failure of the officers involved in the undercover operation and investigation to consistently and believably present themselves as underage persons in investigations such as these, the culminating factors were enough to acquit P. from his charges.
According to Alex Bilyk, York’s director of media relations, P. has since resigned from his position.
With files from the National Post
Editor’s note: This article has been edited to protect the privacy of the parties involved.
