American found guilty of smuggling ‘horrific’ child porn

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This article was published 24/08/2023 (1135 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

An American man was so racked with guilt that he fell to the ground and begged to be shot after border guards caught him with abhorrent images of children being sexually abused, as he crossed into Manitoba in 2021.

A Court of King’s Bench judge has to decide whether Adam Lee Andris, 39, will be sent to a federal prison in Canada or be placed under house arrest.

The former U.S. army soldier was caught at the Emerson border crossing with images of child sexual abuse so abhorrent a prosecutor wouldn’t describe them in court.

Andris, who saw combat action in at least one war, was crossing by vehicle on June 18, 2021, when the Canada Border Services Agency conducted a search. Officers found what was described in court as sexual paraphernalia, drugs and knives, and content on a laptop that caused an officer to break down in court as he tried to describe it, federal Crown prosecutor Matthew Sinclair told Justice Anne Turner at a sentencing hearing this week.

Andris was charged with three Customs Act violations and was found guilty of smuggling prohibited goods, namely child sexual abuse material, commonly referred to as child pornography.

An analysis of the laptop found 447 pornographic files, some of which depicted real children, while other images were computer-generated.

Sinclair asked for Andris to be sentenced to three years in a penitentiary. Defence lawyer Omri Plotnik sought a two-year conditional sentence that would amount to house arrest, including strict conditions and court-ordered counselling.

Sinclair would not read descriptions of the material during the hearing to avoid traumatizing people in the courtroom.

“The material is horrific,” Sinclair told the judge, later noting some of the images were of toddlers.

Sinclair added Andris’s possession of the material showed he had a “wanton disregard” for values held by Canadians.

Plotnik said Andris has severe post-traumatic stress disorder and other mental health issues brought on by killing enemy combatants and witnessing his friends die at war. It led to a severe addiction to pornography, which worsened to the point that he sought out sexual images of children.

The defence lawyer did not specify which war, or wars, Andris had fought in, nor what U.S. state he is from.

He was on his way to Canada to visit his girlfriend, Plotnik said, not move to the country.

Plotnik said Andris confessed and helped border agents access the material on his laptop. His client started psychiatric counselling sessions before his case went to trial.

“The remorse that Mr. Andris feels is palpable. It is very strong,” said Plotnik. “He has turned a corner, to put it bluntly.”

Andris also expressed immediate regret, Plotnik said, and talked about killing himself as border officers put handcuffs on him.

“In his mind… his misdeeds were so great, he no longer deserved to live,” said Plotnik.

Plotnik added two forensic psychiatric reports have determined Andris is a low risk to reoffend.

In court Tuesday, Andris apologized to the families of those harmed, and said he did not want the judge to look at the images so no one else is hurt by what he had done.

Turner reserved her sentencing decision until Sept. 5.

Andris, who has been out on bail since shortly after his arrest and living with his Canadian girlfriend, will need to deal with immigration matters after his sentence, whether in prison or the community.

erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca