A Saskatoon man who pleaded guilty to child pornography offences will spend his sentence at a provincial correctional centre.
Chief Justice Martel Popescul sentenced 27-year-old Justin Gerard Gryba to 53 months less a day in jail Friday in Saskatoon’s Court of Queen’s Bench. After being given credit for time served of 29 months, Gryba will spend two years less a day in a provincial correctional centre.
The sentence is based on a second set of child pornography-related charges against Gryba.
He was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty in 2012 to child pornography offences and charged again in 2014 after police opened encrypted devices seized during their initial investigation.
The additional seven charges included possession of child porn, accessing child porn, making child porn and voyeurism.
Gryba pleaded guilty March 18 to two counts of possession of child porn and two counts of making child porn. The remaining three charges were stayed.
When police cracked the encrypted hard drives, investigators found 11 videos Gryba took of boys, who he met through volunteer work, changing in a locker room. Gryba isn’t seen touching the boys in the videos, and he did not share the videos or post them online.
Close to 10,000 new child pornography files were also found on the encrypted device.
“Words cannot begin to express the vile and deprived nature of these sickening and disgusting recordings,” Justice Popescule said.
Gryba’s lawyer Morris Bodnar pushed for a two-year sentence and argued for Gryba’s release. He said, with the 29 months Gryba spent in custody during the latest legal proceedings, he had served a long enough sentence.
Outside of court, Bodnar told reporters his client is truly remorseful for his actions.
“I’ve never seen a person try as hard to deal with treatment to take everything that’s available and to understand what the problem is,” Bodnar said. “What most people completely overlook is that what we have dealt with here is an illness.”
Bodnar said it’s important Gryba’s sentence is served in a provincial centre so he can continue working with his psychologist and receive the rehabilitation he needs.
Crown prosecutor Michael Segu argued for a five-year term, which would equate to 31 months behind bars. He said the case is unique on several levels — “both in terms of the intelligence of the offender, the sophistication of his offending, in terms of the equipment used, and the encryption,” he said.
“The length and breadth of offending certainly would put him in the upper echelon of the offenders that I’ve seen.”
Justice Popescul told the court while Gryba’s actions were terrible, he believes there is hope he won’t re-offend.
Gryba’s sentence included a number of probation orders including being banned from any playgrounds, public pools and parks for five years and being banned from computers unless the computer is owned and on the premise of an educational institution he’s attending.
