Ontario man admits to inappropriate relationship with underage Shelburne girl
A 26-year-old Ontario man has been sentenced to a year in jail and two years probation for sexual interference involving a 14-year-old Nova Scotia girl.
Adam Paul Stuart Browne pleaded guilty in Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Shelburne and was sentenced last Friday.
Browne travelled to Shelburne to meet the girl after a lengthy phone and online relationship with her.
The pair met over the online social site Omegle for a one-on-one video chat in late 2011. At the time, the girl told Browne that she was 17 and about to turn 18.
Man travelled by train to meet the girl
Their long-distance relationship continued for months before the girl admitted her true age. At that point, Browne broke off all contact with the girl. But she kept calling and he eventually resumed talking to her.
Approximately nine months after they first met online, Browne travelled by train from Ontario to meet her.
He spent a week in Shelburne, seeing the girl at least once a day. Most of the time, they played video games. But in an agreed statement of facts introduced in court, the man admitted to sexual activity with the girl on several occasions.
The agreement notes there was never any threats of violence and intimidation and that the girl admitted to initiating much of the sexual activity.
'You preyed on a 14-year-old girl'
In sentencing Browne, Justice James Chipman said: "You acted on impulse and for your own sexual gratification."
"In so doing," the judge continued, "you preyed on a 14-year-old girl."
In addition to the jail time and probation, Browne is ordered to stay away from his victim and her family, have no contact with children through the internet and to stay away from places children are known to frequent.
Browne's name will go on the national sex offender registry for the next 20 years and he must provide a DNA sample.
