Date of charges back to February 2019 on Vancouver Island

A Fort St. John man convicted of youngster pornography charges on Vancouver Island will serve just under six months in jail.

The Comox Valley Record reports Aaron Farough was found guilty and sentenced Thursday on charges of accessing and distributing the pornography dating back to February 2019 in Courtenay.

According to the fact, Farough was a travelling, unaffiliated church minister whose “missionary work trusted on room and board at homes of members of his church.”

According to the Record, police interrupted pornographic images and videos Farough accessed on his smartphone while staying at the house of one of his followers, which involved girls ranging in age from four to 12 years old.

Farough is quoted in the news report as saying he was “inquisitive” when clarifying his reasoning for accessing the material.

“If I didn’t have access to this mobile phone, I wouldn’t have retrieved child porn. If I hadn’t been in such private settings, I wouldn’t have distributed child porn,” Farough was quoted as saying.

Farough was penalized to 175 days jail and one year of trial, and will be registered on the national sex offender registry for 20 years, the Record reported. He is also prohibited from working or volunteering with kids under 16 years old.

Farough, 36, now lives in Lethbridge and “has since had 19 sessions with a psychologist in Alberta that concentrated on his sexual problems,” according to the report.