Man jailed for taping, stalking girls

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This article was published 20/08/2011 (5351 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A retired Manitoba grandfather has admitted to a “double life” that involved spending more than a decade secretly videotaping and stalking several young girls and women living in his community.

Douglas Shelvey, 65, pleaded guilty this week in The Pas to charges including making child pornography, making surreptitious recordings and criminal harassment. He was sentenced to 11 months of pre-trial custody, plus an additional eight months behind bars, as part of a joint recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers. Shelvey was also given three years of supervised probation and will be placed on the federal sex-offender registry.

“Your behaviour has scarred the victims here, the people close to them and who love them and this community in ways you can’t begin to understand,” said provincial court Judge Heather Pullan during the hearing in The Pas, a community of about 6,500 located more than 600 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg.

“The behaviour here was so unusual, I can’t help but think your risk to re-offend is significant.”

To all who knew him, Shelvey was a normal, law-abiding family man who had recently retired from his job as a heavy equipment operator and was looking forward to spending more time with his wife, two grown children and grandchildren.

But all those plans were derailed last year when RCMP responded to a call regarding suspicious behaviour and caught Shelvey sitting inside his vehicle armed with a video camera that would reveal his secret. Police executed a series of search warrants for his home, his car and a storage shed in which dozens of videotapes were seized. Among the findings:

— Shelvey began spying on a nine-year-old neighbour in 1998 and repeatedly got video of her through her bathroom and bedroom windows, in the nude. The footage continued for six years, up until she was 15.

— Shelvey was found to have a collection of the girl’s panties, along with several other personal items, which he had stolen from her home. Shelvey was friends with the girl’s father and would be asked to look after the family home when they were away, allowing him access.

— Shelvey recorded a series of videos of himself inside the girl’s bedroom, which the Crown told court was clearly “for a sexual purpose and for sexual gratification.” No other details of those videos were disclosed.

— Shelvey had spent his most recent years pointing his camera at five other children in The Pas, including close-up shots of specific body parts and when they were in bathing suits at area parks and playgrounds. Those targets were primarily young teen girls.

— Shelvey also had video he’d shot through the windows of two other young women who didn’t know they were being filmed. One of the victims was never identified by police.

Crown attorney Terry McComb said the teen girl who had called police last year about being followed, which led to Shelvey’s arrest, deserves plenty of credit for exposing his extensive, “compulsive” crimes. The girl’s mother made a tearful victim impact statement in court Thursday.

“I can’t help but wonder if he’d have taken it to the next level and harmed one of these girls,” she said. “I would urge all teens and young women to follow their instincts. And to parents, listen to your children.”

The woman described how she now lives in a constant state of distrust because of what happened to her daughter and the other victims. And she expressed concern about Shelvey’s future, although she was happy to hear the Crown say he will be the subject of a future high-risk public community notification.

“Now he is the one we will be watching,” she said.

Defence lawyer John Skinner offered little explanation for his client’s motivations but said Shelvey is adamant he never planned to actually confront or physically harm any of his victims. He said Shelvey will now benefit from an intensive six-month sexual offender program he’s going to take while in custody at Headingley jail.

“The facts of this case are very unique. He remains married, although he’s not sure what the future holds,” said Skinner.

Shelvey’s probation includes a ban on owning any cameras, cellular phones or computers. He is also forbidden from having any contact with children under the age of 18 and must avoid all areas where they are known to gather. Police have the right to carry out unlimited number of warrantless, unannounced searches of his residence to ensure compliance.

“This was a tremendous invasion of privacy,” said McComb. “The big concern now is what to do with this individual in the community upon release.”

www.mikeoncrime.com