Matthew James Carter has known for sometime that police were looking at charging him with more offences related to child luring.
But when those charges were called in provincial court in Corner Brook on Monday afternoon his lawyer had some issues.
Carter, 34, was charged in February with unlawfully luring a child under the age of 16 by means of a computer system and unlawfully making sexually explicit material available to child under 16.
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The possibility of new charges came up during a September court appearance when it was learned the investigation into Carter was continuing and police were analyzing a cellphone confiscated from him.
At the start of Monday’s appearance, his lawyer Sandi MacKinnon expressed her displeasure that neither she nor Carter, who appeared via videoconference from the Bishop’s Falls Correctional Centre, had been aware that nine new charges had been laid on Friday. She said Carter had not been served with the charges.
That led to an exchange between MacKinnon and Crown attorney Adam Sparkes over the process.
Sparkes said Carter had the option of having MacKinnon appear on the charges then or be arrested and brought to court in shackles, as is the normal process.
After taking a break to speak with Carter, MacKinnon told the court that in the interest of moving the matter along he was ready to enter pleas to the original charges.
After the guilty pleas were entered she said it was still her intention to deal with all the matters as a whole.
The amount of disclosure in the case is said to be enormous and she asked that the Crown make it a priority to have it vetted and provided to her.
Right now MacKinnon only represents Carter on the charges he’s pleaded guilty to, but anticipates she’ll be assigned the new ones as well.
She requested a pre-sentence report be completed on her client and a facts and sentencing hearing was set on the two charges to which guilty pleas were entered for Jan. 22.
The new charges will be called again on Dec. 19 for status.
Nine new charges
Three counts of unlawfully luring a child under the age of 18 by means of a computer system
Three counts of unlawfully making sexually explicit material available to a child under 16
Possessing child pornography
Distributing or selling child pornography
Unlawfully luring a child under the age of 16 by means of a computer system
