David Marcus Adema of Nanaimo is a convicted sex offender after extremely damaging videos of children being sexually abused was found on his phone. (Facebook)

By Ian Holmes

sex offender

Nanaimo man’s ‘extremely aggravating’ child porn haul leads to jail sentence

Jun 12, 2025 | 2:02 PM

Editor’s note: This article contains details of the sexual abuse of children, which may not be suitable for some readers. Discretion is strongly advised.

NANAIMO — Having no prior criminal record, a man was placed in handcuffs and escorted to jail after highly disturbing and damaging content was retrieved from his phone.

David Marcus Adema, 35, was jailed for six months during a Friday, June 6 sentencing hearing at provincial court in Nanaimo after he pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography.

Nanaimo Mounties were tipped off by the RCMP’s National Child Exploitation Crime Centre in November 2022 regarding material possessed by Adema obtained through an online app.

On Feb. 15 2023, Nanaimo RCMP used a search warrant to seize devices from Adema’s south Nanaimo home in which 14 illegal videos on a singular device were found.

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“This is a very serious offence, the videos were vile in nature and contained children being tortured and sexually abused to an extremely high level,” Crown counsel’s Leanne Mascolo told court.

Videos included a young boy, who appeared to be unconscious, sexually assaulted by an adult male.

While the collection was smaller compared to similar types of offending, the level of abuse inflicted on the children stood out as highly concerning, Mascolo added.

“That’s extremely aggravating in nature.”

She stated Adema was cooperative during a pre-sentence report and a forensic evaluation.

In the opinion of a psychologist, Adema presented as a low-risk to carry out future sexual violence.

A.W. McGarvey, the offender’s lawyer, said Adema has taken full responsibility for his actions and is benefiting from ongoing therapy.

“[The sentence] gives a man without a record a six-month jail sentence, which reflects in a measured way, his crime.”

McGarvey told the hearing Adema displayed insight into his conduct and is remorseful.

Adema lost his Nanaimo retail job when he was charged over a year ago.

“He’s acknowledged what he’s done and the wrongness of it and the conduct since the day of his arrest until now has been what I think the community would expect of him,” McGarvey said.

Adema declined to address the court.

Judge Bryan Dybwad accepted a joint sentence recommendation prepared by Crown and the defence.

While he was pleased with Adema’s acceptance of responsibility and steps taken to deal with root causes of his offending, judge Dybwad said the offender’s conduct must be condemned.

“It’s perpetuating violence against children, which is something society just won’t tolerate.”

In addition to a six-month jail sentence, 18 months’ probation will apply, followed by three years of heavily restrictive conditions designed specifically for sex offenders.

No contact orders with people under the age of 16 apply to Adema under the court-ordered conditions.

He’ll also face internet usage restrictions, will be banned from public recreation facilities and parks where people under the age of 16 could be present, and he’ll also be barred from employment/volunteer positions in which he’s in a position of trust of people under the age of 16.

Once released, Adema will appear on the National Sex Offender Registry for a decade, while he was ordered to provide a DNA sample.

He will service his sentence at an institution at the discretion of BC Corrections.

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