Missionary busted in Winnipeg with massive child porn cache

WINNIPEG - A U.S. missionary who has travelled the world teaching religion to youth has been handed one of the longest child pornography sentences in Manitoba history.

Ronald William White received a 20-month penalty on Friday after pleading guilty to importing nearly 5,000 disturbing images into Canada - and after claiming some of the images in his collection would be accepted by more cosmopolitan Europeans.

``The images were graphic and disturbing. Some of the pictures are of babies, some of them in apparent distress,'' said provincial court Judge Michel Chartier.

White, 25, was arrested on Valentine's Day at the James Richardson International Airport in Winnipeg. The Virginia resident had flown to Winnipeg to hook up with a woman he'd met online, court was told.

Border officials were suspicious of White because he arrived with no return ticket. They asked to search his laptop computer and found evidence of child pornography.

Winnipeg police took over the investigation, obtained a warrant and found an ``overwhelming'' collection, said Crown attorney Terry McComb.

The nearly 5,000 illegal images were mostly of boys, aged five and younger. At least one was of a newborn toddler with his umbilical cord still showing, court was told.

Police also found more than 10,000 images depicting child nudity that didn't fall inside the reach of Canada's Criminal Code. White admitted to taking some of those pictures himself in the homes of families he'd visited in 11 countries over the past five years. White also had 19,000 other pictures of fully-clothed children.

White, who has a degree in theology, later told justice officials that many of the pictures he had would be acceptable in ``liberalized'' Europe.

He claims he amassed his entire collection in just two months.

White has spent seven months in pre-trial custody at Headingley Jail, which was given double-time credit of 14 months. He was seeking to be released immediately with a sentence of time served.

Chartier said further punishment was needed based on the disturbing facts of the case.

White will be deported and placed in the custody of American justice officials after he finishes serving the remaining six months of his sentence. He will be greeted in the U.S. by three felony counts of possession of child pornography seized from his home. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence there of three years behind bars if convicted.

Defence lawyer Ted Mariash told court his client is ashamed and remorseful over what he has done. White has no prior criminal record and has done plenty of good during his religious world travels, he said.

White faced a mandatory year of jail based on his guilty plea under recently amended child pornography legislation. It was only a few years ago that offenders were receiving fines, probation and suspended sentences for this type of crime.