September 12, 2012

Predator jailed for exploiting teenage girls

By David Clarkson

An on-line predator has been jailed for two years six months for sexually exploiting 17 girls and young women using false Facebook accounts and emails.

Kevin Alexander Reynolds pretended to be a woman talent scout for a modelling agency, and then a professional photographer who went to meet some of the victims.

He paid small amounts of money and offered more. He ended up obtaining sexually explicit footage and photographs which the police found on his computer system and storage devices.

Christchurch District Court Judge Paul Kellar said criticism of the victims was not warranted after Reynolds? defence counsel Craig Ruane said it had involved an element of ?naivety and foolishness? by the girls.

Reynolds admitted 11 charges of sexually exploiting young people, two charges of dishonestly accessing a computer system relating to hacked Facebook accounts, and six charges of obtaining by deception relating to the older victims.

Crown prosecutor Karyn South said Reynolds had admitted a course of conduct that had gone on for years. His victims ranged in age from 13 to 20 years, but most were aged 14 to 17.

?They were drawn into dealing with him over the internet, posing for him, and in some cases having meetings with him, on the false pretence that there were modelling opportunities in it for them,? she said.

?He preyed upon their insecurities, and the desire for fame and fortune on the part of the female victims. To an extent, it was silly of the girls, but the law is here to protect young people and teenagers do make silly decisions.?

The offending had been highly premeditated. Reynolds had posed on-line as a female talent scout and then as a professional photographer. He had photo shoots with them, and police found pictures of the the girls in their underwear, or with bare bottoms, or even with images of their genitals. Some involved sexual acts.

Judge Kellar, who sentenced Reynolds, got an assurance from the Crown and the police that all the images ? as far as they knew ? had been found and would be destroyed.

Reynolds had threatened to make images public when girls broke off contact or refused to provide any more pornographic content.

Ruane said he was left with the unhappy feeling that there may not have been complaints from the older victims if they had been paid as promised. If anything good came out of the case, it was a warning that if people were going to be persuaded to display themselves to an anonymous person on the internet, it might not be entirely legitimate behaviour.

Judge Kellar outlined the difficulties faced by the young victims, including one 15-year-old whose activities had become known and who found she was excluded from shopping activities with her friends, sporting events, and parties because of the stigma.

He increased the sentence because of Reynolds? previous offending, but reduced it for his guilty plea, imposing a two year six month sentence.

The court was told Reynolds had taken steps to get treatment but was not able to enter the programme until he was sentenced. He has been assessed as a high risk offender who is suitable for the Kia Marama programme for sex offenders while in prison.

Court told of predator?s previous behaviour

Kevin Alexander Reynolds has a history of sneaky offending.

In June 2002 he was convicted of burglary and being disguised for burglary.

He had a crush on a woman he knew and went to visit her when she was house-sitting.

He took a key and sneaked into the house late that night, disguised with a full-face balaclava and gloves.

He went to the bedroom where she was, and the terrified woman ripped his balaclava off, revealing his identity and ending the incident.

The next year, he was convicted of criminal harassment.

A father warned him off after finding he was peering at the young women of the family showering, through the opaque glass of a bathroom window.

Reynolds didn?t stay away, but the family installed a video camera and caught him.

?That indicates a tendency for you to engage in covert behaviour for your own sexual gratification,? said Judge Paul Kellar as he jailed 27-year-old Reynolds today for more sex offending.

Reynolds is still assessed as being a high risk of reoffending.