Disgraced Corner Brook cop Sean Kelly sentenced to 10 months

Sean Kelly, a Royal Newfoundland Constabulary officer who was founded guilty of making an indecent phone call as well as a mischief charge, was given a jail sentence Monday.

Judge Wayne Gorman sentenced Kelly to 10 months on both counts: six months for the mischief count, and four months for placing an indecent call.

But defence lawyer Jamie Merrigan quickly filed paperwork Monday on an appeal of Gorman's decision.

On Monday afternoon, Kelly was granted bail and released on conditions.

Kelly's trial heard that he made a lewd phone call to a young woman in 2012, and then put the blame on another man.

In a statement he gave to police, Kelly accounted for the phone call by falsely explaining that he had loaned his police-issued phone to a person he was purportedly grooming as a source.

Gorman said he chose a jail sentence, accompanied by 12 months of probation, in part because of the "magnitude of the breach of public trust involved when a police officer ... commits criminal offences connected to their position."

Kelly is currently suspended without pay.

His status with the police force is being reviewed by the RNC Professional Standards Branch.