63-year-old William Kreibom just prior to his sentencing hearing in provincial court in Nanaimo on Thursday, Aug. 13 after pleading guilty to possessing child porn (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Ian Holmes

Child porn

Nanaimo man awaits sentencing after guilty plea for child porn possession

Aug 14, 2020 | 5:18 AM

Editor’s note: The following story contains disturbing content which may not be appropriate for some readers.

NANAIMO — A man busted with thousands of child porn pictures and videos described himself as “just a lonely, old cross-dressing man.”

William Herbert Erich Kreibom, 63, had his sentencing hearing take place Thursday, Aug. 13 in Nanaimo after he pleaded guilty earlier this year to one count of possessing child porn.

An agreed statement of facts heard Kreibom was arrested after a March 12, 2019 search warrant at the home he shared with his mother in Nanaimo’s Uplands neighbourhood.

Kreibom awaits his punishment following his hour long hearing before Judge Karen Whonnock.

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The Crown’s Brett Webber said three devices were seized from Kreibom’s home leading to 8,300 images and videos considered to be child porn. The disturbing material included young girls being sexually abused by men.

Some of the victims were estimated by Nanaimo RCMP investigators to be as young as two-years-old.

Kreibom was arrested and provided a statement the same day to police, saying he looked at child porn out of curiosity, but never created or shared any such material.

Kreibom contended child porn popped up when he looked at regular porn, but couldn’t explain to police why he saved the illegal images and claimed he wasn’t turned on by kids.

The offender told police if he ever witnessed an adult sexually abusing a child he would “stop it and beat up the adult.”

Defence lawyer Brian Sutton told court his client is divorced with one daughter and had no prior criminal record. Sutton said Kreibom had an excellent upbringing and was not abused as a child.

Sutton said Kreibom cross-dressed for much of his adult life to gain acceptance with women and during group therapy sessions, Kreibom initially didn’t understand the impact his actions had on the victims he viewed.

“If he didn’t watch the picture of the child pornography, perhaps the person who took the picture wouldn’t take it and that was a tough lesson to get through to Mr. Kreibom,” Sutton said.

Kreibom was described in therapy as a slow learner, but the sessions were considered to be helpful in the offender’s recovery.

“I’ve learned that looking at child porn is illegal and wrong. And even looking at porn should be illegal and wrong. It’s not an outlet that me or anyone should go down,” Kreibom said in court.

Court was told Kreibom’s mother had no knowledge of his son’s child porn viewing habits.

The Crown is lobbying for a one year jail term and 18 months probation, which Webber said aligns with an appropriate sentencing range based on case law. The defence requested six months in jail.

The maximum sentence for possessing child porn under the Criminal Code of Canada is 10 years in prison.

A second charge laid against Kreibom for distributing child porn was dropped by the crown.

Kreibom was originally flagged in 2015 by an American non-profit organization advocating for missing and sexually exploited children.

Court was told Nanaimo RCMP then undertook an investigation into Kreibom for allegedly possessing child porn, but Crown Counsel declined to pursue the matter further.

The current investigation was sparked by a comment on Kreibom’s Facebook account in June 2018 that he was “a closet pedophile.”

Nanaimo RCMP officers attended his home where Kreibom told police he had moved on from prior sexual urges he had toward children.

Kreibom is under numerous court-ordered conditions, including not having access to the internet. He intends to move to Alberta following an expected jail tenure.

He is not currently in custody.

ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes