39-year-old Corey Samuel Robinson was sentenced to eight months behind bars followed by two years probation after pleading guilty to a possession of child pornography charge. (Jordan Davidson/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Jordan Davidson

heading to jail

‘Like trading cards in school:’ mid-Island man sent to jail for sharing child abuse images

Mar 28, 2025 | 4:13 PM

Editors note: This article contains details of the sexual abuse of children. Reader discretion is strongly advised.

NANAIMO — A 39-year-old man will spend the next eight months behind bars followed by two years probation for admitting to possessing and sharing graphic and violent child pornography.

Corey Samuel Robinson was given the sentence by judge Tamara Hodge in a B.C. provincial court in Nanaimo on Friday, March 28, after pleading guilty to the single count last year.

During sentencing, Robinson admitted feeling depressed, anxious, and lonely during the time of his offending, with Hodge saying while his mental health may be connected to his offending, it does not reduce the moral culpability for his actions.

“Mr. Robinson was not just viewing pornography or chatting with others online, he was viewing and possessing the illicit material depicting harm, violence, and torture being done to young children. I do not find that his mental health issues affected his cognitive ability.”

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On Jan 11, 2021, Google reported to the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children one of their users may have uploaded child pornography, which was then forwarded to the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit.

The court noted the incidents spanned from December 2018 until November 2020.

From there, investigators were able to determine the IP address matched Robinson, and files included his name and date of birth.

Police executed a search warrant on the Lantzville home where Robinson was renting a room, where he insisted on providing police with a statement indicating child pornography would be located on his tablet, providing police with the password.

Judge Hodge said Robinson struggled to form relationships for most of his life and began chatting with people in the online comment section of porn videos, with the shared content between Robinson and other users escalating into more graphic, abusive, and violent in nature, eventually leading to child pornography.

“Mr. Robinson told police he traded images with other people like ‘trading cards at school’, and would trade between four or five different people a few times, up to six times a day sometimes,” said Hodge, quoting the police report.

Among the electronic items seized, police found 684 images and 132 videos depicting graphic child sexual abuse, which included torture and computer-generated (AI) incest, with the real-life victims in the images estimated to be between two and 12 years of age.

Hodge said while the Crown didn’t submit any formal victim impact statement as none of the children in the images or videos were specifically identified, viewing those images contributes to their continued abuse.

“They are one, if not the most, vulnerable portion of our population in society. It is clear that the possession of child pornography harms children, and it in itself, is child sexual assault. The children depicted in child pornography images are revictimized each time the images are viewed.”

A forensic psychological report completed on Robinson determined there was little information for the doctor to go on, and she was unable to provide a specific diagnostic opinion on his mental health.

She did say he had a history of intergenerational and developmental trauma based on his Indigenous heritage covered in the Gladue report, and he experiences “clinical, significant anxiety that causes distress, social isolation, and functional impairment in his life.”

However, Hodge said while she can see how Robinson’s severe anxiety and isolation were linked to him going online to seek connections with others and for sexual gratification, it does not reduce the blame for his actions.

“The use of a vulnerable child for sexual gratification of an adult, cannot be viewed as anything but a crime demonstrating the worst intentions.”

Robinson had no criminal record prior to this charge.

Conditions of his probation order include no contact with any minor without permission from his probation officer.

He’s also prohibited from being in a public place where someone under the age of 16 might be present for 10 years without permission, he must submit a DNA sample to the police database, his internet access will be restricted and monitored, and he will be on the National Sex Offenders Registry for 20 years.

Robinson only spoke in court to say he understood his sentence, before being led away in handcuffs by the baliff.

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