R. v. B.L.A. Date:, 2015 BCPC 203

Citation: R. v. B.L.A. Date: 20150709 2015 BCPC 0203 File Nos: 8912,8983,9018 Registry: Port Coquitlam IN THE PROVINCIAL COURT OF BRITISH COLUMBIA REGINA v. BLA REASONS FOR SENTENCE OF THE HONOURABLE JUDGE P. JANZEN Counsel for the Crown: Michael Bauer Counsel for the Defendant: Stephen Martin Place of Hearing: Port Coquitlam , B.C. Dates of Hearing: March 16, May 15 and June 29, 2015 Date of Judgment: July 9, 2015

[ 1 ] You were charged with 46 counts and you have pleaded guilty to 23 counts of criminal misconduct, all but one of which occurred during 2014 when you were a young person within the meaning of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, S.C. 2002 c. 1. The Crown proceeded by way of indictment. [ 2 ] Virtually all of your criminal activity involved your use of a computer. It is clear that you have reasonably sophisticated computer skills that you could use for your own betterment through employment and to provide useful services to others.

Instead, you applied those skills to inflict very serious harm on a large number of people through activities known as “doxing” and “swatting”. [ 3 ] Doxing involves publishing on the internet identifiable personal information about an individual that has usually been obtained from social media sites and from hacking into private systems. Depending on the nature of the information, its disclosure can cause the victim distress, fear, embarrassment and shame. The personal information can be used by others to facilitate identity theft and fraud.

The threat to publish private information can also be used by the person who holds the information for extortion and blackmail purposes. [ 4 ] Swatting involves tricking an emergency service agency into dispatching an emergency response based on a false report of an ongoing critical incident. Swatting can lead to the deployment of a range of emergency response teams including police, fire and bomb squads and the evacuation of businesses, schools or other public institutions. [ 5 ] It is far more serious than a prank.

The impact, ramifications and potential consequences of swatting range from inconvenient and wasteful to catastrophic. Any required evacuations are disruptive and costly and can also be traumatic for those involved. The deployment of emergency resources to a bogus incident is a waste of scarce public resources. Such a deployment also means that those resources are not available to respond to a real incident with potentially serious consequences.

If swatting proliferates, limited public resources must be expended not only on responding but on determining whether a call is real or a hoax with the potential for reaching the wrong conclusion and failing to respond to a true emergency with sufficient resources and in a timely manner. [ 6 ] The innocent victim or victims are often confronted in the sanctity of their home by an armed police presence and observed by their neighbours being led out onto the street at gunpoint. [ 7 ] Perhaps the greatest risk posed by swatting is that the innocent and utterly bewildered person or persons who have been implicated in a false story of murder, terrorism or hostage taking, when confronted by the armed police presence, will panic and trigger the use of deadly force by the police. [ 8 ] You have pleaded guilty to nine counts of criminal harassment, eight counts of public mischief, four counts of extortion, one count of uttering a threat and one count of breach of a recognisance.

I will briefly review the circumstances of those offences. [ 9 ] You pleaded guilty to the criminal harassment of Victim #1 and Victim #2 on or about January 26, 2014. Victim #1 is an online gamer who live streams herself playing a popular online video game. You called and texted her early in the morning demanding that she show her butt on the internet or you would reveal her credit card number and her parents’ credit ratings on the internet and disrupt her internet service. You also threatened to send out a SWAT team to her home.

She reported the calls to the police who told her to ignore them. [ 10 ] Later that morning you disabled her internet connection. You also ordered a cab three times to her home. At 2:43 that afternoon you called the Waterloo Police Department in Ontario and identified yourself as Victim #1’s ex-boyfriend, Steve Wynhoff. You stated that you had taken all occupants in Victim #1’s residence as hostages. You said that you had scattered bombs around the premises and had a loaded M4 rifle. You stated that you wanted a SWAT team, a bomb squad and a helicopter to attend at the residence.

You told them that if squad cars attended that you would detonate the bombs. You indicated that you’d kill yourself when you saw the helicopter. The Waterloo Police Force attended with its Emergency Response Unit. They contacted the family of Victim #1and determined that the call was a hoax. [ 11 ] Before the police arrived, Victim #1 learned that you had also placed an ad on Craigslist in Kitchener, Ontario that used her personal name and address stating that she wanted sex with a black man. [ 12 ] You also changed her email address and changed her Amazon account to an account in Japan.

You obtained Victim #1’s email address through Paypal. [ 13 ] You posed as an Amazon employee and obtained Victim #1’s telephone number and address from Amazon’s technical support. Using that information you called Rogers posing as a Rogers employee and got her account information that you used to place the 911 call. [ 14 ] In the early weeks of January, 2014 you asked Victim #2 to add your user name to her Skype account. Victim #2 was also a young woman who played a popular video game and live streamed it online.

She started to have problems with her internet connection and you sent her a message by Skype stating that the problems would stop if she sent you her photo. You hacked into her Skype account and changed her name and password. You posed as Victim #2 and sent messages to her friends in order to obtain her telephone number. You tweeted that you had the social insurance number and date of birth of Victim #2 and her parents.

You called Victim #2’s parents and spoke to her father, threatening to come over and rape Victim #2. [ 15 ] You pleaded guilty to public mischief involving police attendance at Disneyland in Anaheim, California, USA. Between December 1, 2013 and January 25, 2014 you called the Anaheim Police stating that a bomb had been placed near the Space Mountain ride in Disneyland. As a result Disneyland was closed down for a short period of time. [ 16 ] You pleaded guilty to extortion involving Victim #3 in July, 2013.

You sent messages by Skype to another young female online game player, Victim #3, asking her to send photos of herself holding a sign with your screen name “obnoxious” on it. When she took steps to block any further messages from you, you threatened to disrupt her internet service, to post her personal information online and

to send a SWAT team to her address, whether the address you had for her was correct or not. [ 17 ] You pleaded guilty to public mischief involving Simon Fraser University. On January 8, 2014 you called the SFU Burnaby campus switchboard to claim that you had hidden bombs around the campus that were going to blow up. [ 18 ] You pleaded guilty to public mischief involving the Toronto Police Department. On January 25, 2014 you called the Toronto Police Department and falsely identified yourself as Steven Wynhoff. You reported that you had shot your girlfriend, Victim #4, and planned to kill her parents next.

You told police dispatch that you had planted four bombs at her residence and gave the address and told them that you would detonate them if police cruisers showed up at the house. The police determined that the call was a hoax but still attended at the home of Victim #4. You also sent a text message to Victim #4 informing her that the SWAT team was on its way. Victim #4 assisted the police in determining that you were the caller.

You told the police that you thought that the arrival of the police would be picked up on Victim #4’s webcam and would be fun to watch. [ 19 ] You pleaded guilty to breach of a term of your recognisance. Term five of your bail orders of March 19, 2014 and October 2, 2014 prohibited you from accessing the internet or the World Wide Web or from possessing a computer or any device that could access the internet unless your access was supervised.

You pleaded guilty to several charges that involved using a computer or similar device and accessing the internet during the period that you were on bail. [ 20 ] You pleaded guilty to public mischief involving the Needham Police Department in Massachusetts, USA. During the summer of 2014 you communicated over Skype with another young female online game player, Victim #5 and attempted to persuade her to send you photos of her feet and toes. You accessed Victim #5’s personal information without her consent including her home phone number and her credit card information.

When Victim #5 refused to speak to you on Skype, you contacted the Needham Police Department reporting that you had a family held hostage at the address of Victim #5 and demanding that their SWAT team deliver $20,000. The police sent out all available resources and also sought the assistance of the fire department and other neighbouring police departments before determining that the call was a hoax. [ 21 ] You pleaded guilty to public mischief involving a high school in Florida.

On September 12, 2014 you phoned the Fort Meade Middle/Senior High School in Polk County, Florida, USA and told the person who answered the phone that you were 15 minutes away with a loaded firearm and that you intended to kill everyone on campus. You then called city hall and advised that you were wearing explosives and that you intended to go to the school to kill everyone. You used the same Arabic sounding name for both calls and made references to Allah and non-believers.

The school was placed on lockdown for a number of hours and once the authorities believed that the danger has passed, the school was evacuated. [ 22 ] You pleaded guilty to public mischief involving the Broomfield Police Department. On November 11, 2014 you identified yourself as Mio and reported to the police department in Broomfield, Colorado that you were holding a family of five hostage at the residence of Victim #6. You stated that you had an AR 15 assault rifle with 250 rounds of ammunition and that you would kill the hostages if the SWAT team did not deliver $20,000.

The SWAT team and the negotiation team responded and after some investigation determined that the call was a hoax. Victim #6 identified your voice as that of the caller because she had communicated with you previously by Skype. [ 23 ] You pleaded guilty to uttering a threat to Victim #7 between November 23 and December 7, 2014 and to public mischief involving the Tempe Police Department of Arizona, USA on or about December 1, 2014. Victim #7 was also a young woman who played a variety of video games live streaming on Twitch.tv and making money from donations from people who wanted to watch her play.

You sent her a message indicating that you were interfering with her internet service which would interfere with her ability to play. Upon receiving information from others, Victim #7 arranged to have you banned from the chat room that you were using to communicate with her. You obtained her residential address by pretending to be an employee of Victim #7’s internet provider who was engaged in repairing her internet service. You then entered the chat room using a different name and threatened to swat her if she banned you from the chat room.

She received another message indicating that the SWAT team was coming and closed her channel. [ 24 ] On December 1, 2014 you called the Tempe Police Department and told them that there was a bomb in the basement of Victim #7’s residence and that anyone who showed up would be shot on sight. Sometime later you called her stating that the police were outside her residence and that they needed to speak to her. She went outside and spoke to the police who searched her residence. You also made comments on her chat room to the effect that she would “be next” like the girl that you had raped the week before.

You then called Victim #7’s mother (Victim #8) on the phone and told her that you were 13 years old and that you were going to commit suicide and that Victim #8 was ruining your life. You called her again and stated: “bomb threat T - minus 10 minutes”. Both women were very frightened and upset. At one point you also told Victim #7 that you had naked pictures of her and threatened to release them. [ 25 ] You pleaded guilty to extortion and criminal harassment of several members of one family. Victim #9 was a university student who played video games on Twitch.tv and who knew Victim #5 and Victim #3.

When you tried to communicate with her, she ignored you. You told her that you had her home address and phone number and her parents’ home address. You left a message threatening to swat her. [ 26 ] On September 16, 2014 you called the Tucson Police Department in Arizona, USA reporting that you lived at the address that you had obtained for Victim #9. You told them that you had just shot your parents with an AR 15 assault rifle, that you had bombs and that you’d kill any police who arrived in a marked car. The police surrounded Victim #9’s apartment and a helicopter surveyed the scene.

The police entered the apartment and found no one there and determined that it was a hoax. You continued to insist that Victim #9 communicate with you and you used social media to threaten that you would swat her again. [ 27 ] On September 21, 2014 you called the Tucson Police Department who again attended at Victim #9’s apartment. On the same day you also called the Phoenix Police Department in Arizona, USA and identified yourself using the name of a member of this family. You told the police that you had an AR assault rifle and that you had shot your parents.

The Phoenix police attended the home of Victim #9’s parents in Phoenix and ordered Victim #9’s father (Victim #10) and brother out of the residence at gunpoint with their hands in the air. The police then determined that the call was a hoax.

[ 28 ] The story made the local news. You posted a link to the story on Twitter and bragged that you had made the call to police. Later that day you sent Victim #9 a message indicating that you had her parents’ credit card information. The family was forced to purchase lifelock, a personal identity theft protection system and to replace all credit cards. [ 29 ] On October 14, 2014 you used a software program called a “bot” to send Victim #9 218 text messages simultaneously. On December 1, 2014 you hacked into her University of Arizona email account and changed her password.

You hacked into her Twitter account and took control of it. You sent her a message that you would give her account back to her if she contacted you. She regained access to her account and publically tweeted a message about what you had done. You responded by posting personal information of Victim #9 and her parents (Victims #10 and #11) online. You contacted several companies that supplied services, such as the internet, to Victim #10 and attempted to cancel these services. You contacted Victim #9’s phone plan and signed her up for a new plan with a fee of $500 per month.

Your harassment only stopped because you were arrested on December 5, 2014. [ 30 ] In December, you posted a live stream on Youtube that was over 8 hours and 40 minutes long that showed you swatting agencies and tormenting various victims. It provided detailed information on the extent of your efforts to torment Victim #9 and her family. The two swatting attacks on her apartment embarrassed and frightened her and caused problems for her with her landlord. You also interrupted her ability to make money from live streaming her video game play onTwitch.tv that helped to finance her education.

She became so frightened and upset that her grades suffered, she had to petition for a withdrawal and she lost a full term of her university education with obvious negative financial consequences to her. [ 31 ] You pleaded guilty to public mischief involving the Grove City, Ohio, USA Police Department. On December 1, 2014 you contacted the Grove City Police Department and gave them a false name, reporting that you held a family of five hostage, that you were armed with an AR 15 rifle, and that bombs were planted around the residence. You demanded that $20,000 be delivered immediately.

Officers armed with tactical rifles moved in and surrounded the house that was located in a heavily populated family neighbourhood. The police called and spoke to a resident of the house who was confused and very alarmed that her family was not safe. Her husband exited the house to see police with rifles trained on the house. The police determined that the call was a hoax.

Because you posted a long live stream of the incident that included the fraudulent call, viewers also phoned the police to report that it was a hoax. [ 32 ] You pleaded guilty to the extortion of Victim #12 and the harassment of Victim #13 on or about June 6, 2014. Victim #12 was another young female game player on Twitch.tv. When you asked to join her network she refused and you attacked her by posting her cell phone number and her mother’s credit card number online. A subscriber to Victim #12’s network, Victim #13, defended Victim #12 publically on Twitter.

You retaliated by ordering a pizza and sending it to Victim #13’s house and by posting his personal information on Twitter. [ 33 ] On June 6, 2014 you also contacted the police department in Ontario, California, USA to report that you were Victim #13, that you had killed your father and that you had your mother tied up in her residence. You provided the address where Victim #13’s mother (Victim #14) lives. You told the police that you wanted to kill yourself and that you would shoot the police who attended. A helicopter was dispatched along with 32 police officers.

Victim #14 was home and heard the helicopter overhead. She called the police to ask what was going on and was told that they had received a call about her address. Victim #13, Victim #14 and Victim #14’s boyfriend, Victim #15 were all removed from the house at gunpoint in front of all their neighbours. The incident was very traumatic for Victim #14 in particular.

The victims upgraded their security systems to avoid access by super-hackers in response to you also posting their personal information online. [ 34 ] You pleaded guilty to harassment and public mischief for incidents involving Victim #16 and his parents, Victim #17 and Victim #18 in Burnsville, Minnesota USA on January 25, 2014. You contacted police in Burnsville advising that you were Victim #16 and that you were holding a family member hostage at their residence and that bombs were also present. You demanded a police helicopter and a SWAT team in 30 minutes. Police responded.

They blocked public access to the family’s residence. They contacted Victim #17 and were advised that the family was staying at a hotel as their floors were being refinished. Your call was determined to be a hoax. [ 35 ] Between January 25, 2014 and March 19, 2014 you posted the personal information of Victims #16, 17 and 18 online on many occasions including their social security numbers. As a result, bank accounts were fraudulently opened in their names leading to damage to their credit ratings.

They were forced to place security alerts on all of their personal information and to purchase lifelock to prevent further identity theft and fraud. [ 36 ] You pleaded guilty to the harassment of Victim #19 and her parents, Victims #20 and 21 between January 19, 2014 and March 27, 2014. You posted their personal information online including social security numbers and banking information. You called them and threatened them with opening credit cards in their names.

Using a false name, you also told Victim #19 that you were going to be using their accounts for fraud and read their social security numbers to her. [ 37 ] You pleaded guilty to the criminal harassment of Victim #22. On November, 15, 2014 Victim #22 was live streaming her play of a popular video game for about an hour when she was forced to stop because you were interfering with her internet connection. You called her and asked her how her connection was going and she hung up on you. You sent her a message: “enjoy distributed denial of services”.

Victim #22 knew other victims who had been swatted after similar encounters with you and so she contacted the police. [ 38 ] You pleaded guilty to extortion of Victim #23 on or about January 24, 2014 and harassment of Victim #23 and her parents, Victims #24 and #25 between January 1 and April 30, 2014. When Victim #23 was live streaming her play of a video game you sent her a follower request that she denied. You retaliated by posting her personal information and that of her parents on Twitter.

You attacked the functionality of her computer several times and you phoned the home of Victims #24 and #25 multiple times between 8:00 PM and midnight every day for a period of almost two months, asking to speak to her and indicating that she owed you. You also called Victim #23’s cell phone 5-20 times a day, particularly while she was broadcasting on Twitch.tv. You told her that you were sorry for everything that you had done but that if she refused to talk to you, her family would be in danger and that you would swat her.

You also overwhelmed her Twitch and Twitter accounts and her phone with a huge number of simultaneously sent messages using a bot, the software application that runs automated tasks over the internet. She heard nothing after March and thought that her ordeal was over but

when she travelled in June and posted photos of herself and friends on Twitter, you commented on Twitter that you would swat her at her vacation location. [ 39 ] You did not plead guilty to a number of similar offences that involved individuals for whom the Crown also seeks no contact and no attend orders: Individuals # 1, #2, #3, #4 and #5.

Based on information that was provided respecting these individuals at the sentencing hearing, I am satisfied that these orders should be made. [ 40 ] A pre-sentence report and psychiatric report dated January 29, 2015 were prepared after you were charged with only one count of criminal harassment, one count of public mischief and one count of extortion and had pleaded guilty to one count of criminal harassment.

I have read and considered the excellent pre-sentence report that was prepared in this case but note that the report writers wrote the report before the magnitude of your criminal conduct was known and made available to them. On May 29, 2015 when the magnitude of your criminal online activity was known, I ordered that a further psychiatric assessment be completed and report made. [ 41 ] Three very detailed, thorough and thoughtful reports were submitted by, respectively, a psychiatrist, a psychologist and a psychiatric social worker.

The authors of these reports reviewed extensive documentation of how these offences were committed and your family, school and personal history including contemporaneous reports made to the Ministry of Child and Family Development during your childhood. The reports were also based on psychological tests that you completed and many hours of personal interviews with you and others. Crown counsel accurately described these reports as “very negative”.

They paint a very disturbing picture of you as a deeply troubled young person who is at very high risk to reoffend. [ 42 ] The first report indicated that you could be provoked to swat or dox a victim if you “felt in some way insulted or had been “called out” in a forum or while online streaming”. You admitted that making a “friend” request and being rejected could be sufficient provocation. You also indicated that on at least one occasion you selected a victim because her online conduct annoyed you, you asked her to stop and she ignored you. [ 43 ] Almost all of your primary victims were young women.

Male victims were usually only selected because they were related to your female victims or in some way attempted to intervene on behalf of your female victims.

Despite your attempts to explain this away, the report writers noted that there appeared to be a misogynistic attitude underlying your selection of victims in committing these offences. [ 44 ] Of particular concern was your minimizing of your crimes by blaming the victim for provoking you or by refusing to acknowledge the extent of the harm that you had caused to your victims. [ 45 ] The report writers were disturbed by the motivation for the crimes that appeared to be, primarily, pleasure taken from the distress of others and, secondarily, prestige gained with your online peer group. [ 46 ] The report writers stated that you demonstrated no remorse and no empathy for your victims.

Your reason for entering guilty pleas was the belief that you would receive a shorter jail sentence, not concern for your victims or acknowledgement of your wrongdoing. [ 47 ] The psychiatric report provides this

summary and recommendations: [BLA] is an individual who has had an undoubtedly psychologically and psychiatrically traumatic, early childhood. He has a past history of displaying signs and symptoms of anxiety, but this was no longer present at the time of our assessment of him. [BLA]’s primary presentation was one of a quite severe narcissism. He has a grossly inflated sense of his own importance and abilities. His narcissism is quite fragile and he is very susceptible to any perceived insult or slight.

When he feels, in anyway, embarrassed, insulted or confronted, he feels very justified in acting in any fashion. He also takes significant sadistic delight in the discomfort he causes his victims. [BLA]’s victims are quite disproportionately female. Given the extremely difficult behaviour ascribed to his mother, which [BLA] would have experienced from early childhood on, it is possible that he has focused his behaviours on females as a way of reacting to his childhood experiences with his mother. [BLA] is not psychologically-minded and this is speculative at this time.

We can find no clear evidence of a sexual motivation to [BLA]’s activities, but we do note that some of his humiliation of female victims involves a sexual component. [BLA] makes frequent reference to his lack of motivation to engage in any activities requiring effort and/or not resulting in an immediate benefit or pleasure for him. His family history includes reported depressive illness. With that in mind, we suggest that a trial of antidepressant medication be given to [BLA]. It is possible that he could experience an increased ( sic ) in motivation which would allow him to engage in more prosocial activities.

Given his reported pleasure in the illegal behaviours that he has engaged in, I do not have much optimism that we can affect significant change in [BLA] simply by treating him with antidepressants. The primary diagnosis, at this point, would be Emerging Narcissistic Personality Disorder, in an individual who has a past history that would lead to a quite severe Attachment Disorder. There is no indication of addictive-like behaviours.

His criminal activity is limited in nature but his description of the pleasure he gets from causing humiliation and harm through his “doxing” and “swatting” and his obvious pride in being able to engage in online fraud is suggestive of quite significant emerging psychopathic traits. In terms of recommendations, this young man continues to represent an extreme risk to the public. He has essentially no remorse with respect to the harm he has done to the victims in the cases that he has pled guilty to.

He has suggested that he has engaged in many other similar activities, some of which by his account may be more extreme than those that he had pled guilty to. His plans in terms of avoiding such activities in the future are simplistic in nature. He suggests that he will simply avoid certain sites and not participate in forums that may cause him to fuel ( sic ) irritation or anger. His general behaviour and his obvious pride in his actions suggest that he has little or no motivation to alter his well-established patterns.

Given that he has a number of obvious cognitive distortions with respect to his activities and their impact on others, we would recommend attempting to engage him in cognitive behavioural therapy, trying to address his cognitive distortions and to attempt to develop some empathy.

A primary recommendation for this young man would be to prevent his access to the Internet for as long as possible. A prolonged absence from the Internet may lead to him essentially being disconnected from the antisocial peer group that facilitated his criminal behaviour. If [BLA] can develop some motivation, he would obviously benefit from further education that would fully provide him with a means of supporting himself without resorting to fraud.

The prognosis for this young man is considered to be extremely guarded as he has essentially no motivation to change and continues to express considerable pride and pleasure in the activities that have caused significant harm to others. Give BLA’s history and behaviour, it would be my strong recommendation that when BLA, once again, has access to the Internet, that parties involved, especially females be notified as precautions will need to be taken to safeguard their identities in order to prevent identity theft and associated fraudulent behaviours. [ 48 ] The psychology report provides this

summary and recommendations: [He] was administered the Psychopathy Checklist - Youth Version (PCL-YV), a measure of psychopathic traits in adolescents. Psychopathic traits are features related to the well understood diagnosis of psychopathy. Psychopathy is a consistent predictor of both re-offending and violent re-offending. Therefore, the PCL-YV is a useful gauge of risk. Based on the results of this measure, and my overall assessment of him, he is at high risk of future internet based offences.

Areas in need of clinical attention are a grandiose sense of self-worth, manipulation, lack of remorse/callousness, lack of goals, difficulty in accepting responsibility, unstable interpersonal relationships, serious criminal behaviour, and criminal versatility…. Personality test results are that [BLA] is self-centered, entitled, grandiose, and has an unrealistically high opinion of himself. He is callous and remorseless. He easily takes offence to other’s perceived wrongs, and many of his offences are motivated by revenge and a desire to punish and humiliate others.

I also think that there is a sadistic element due to the extended and concerted nature of the harassment that he has engaged in…. …His motivation to engage in this behaviour is not intrusive or unwanted; his motivation is ego-syntonic, experienced as enjoyable and not unwanted. For [BLA], he targets others he is upset and angry with, alleviates boredom and has a social component as well. That is, he communicates with observers who engage in similar behaviour, or the targets of his actions, either during and/or afterwards.

His motivation to engage in these behaviours is revengeful; intended to cause significant frustration, upset and, often, fear in others. Once he has attained this, he further manipulates and extorts his victims. Some of his behaviour is undergirded by cognitive distortions; such as he perceives other’s actions as personal insults, that people do not have a right to disagree or criticize him, and those who have insulted him sometimes deserve serious and protracted punishment. His pattern of offences suggests that these attitudes are applied much more harshly to women, and these attitudes appear to be misogynistic.

I recommend therapy with a male as his feelings towards a female therapist may decrease the development of rapport and a therapeutic alliance. At the current time, he is at high risk for future and serious internet-based offences. The recommendations related to the assessment results are that the above problematic attitudes may be altered in psychotherapy. He may benefit from learning perspective-taking to address his lack of remorse, and psycho-education targeting his negative attitudes towards women.

A more confrontation ( sic ) approach may be required in an attempt to alter his difficulty in accepting responsibility for example. A more empathic approach should be applied for [BLA]’s family of origin issues. He should continue his face-to-face social interaction skills. He needs significant limits placed on his access to the internet, and should receive immediate consequences for illegal behaviour.

Upon release, he should participate in the Intensive Support and Supervision Program to decrease his social isolation, complete a large number of community hours to not only decrease his social isolation but also give him a sense of making up for his mistake. [ 49 ] The psychosocial report focusses on your family and personal history. Your father has multiple addictions, engaged in a life of crime and physically abused your mother. Your mother has struggled with depression since before your birth.

She neglected you and your brother to such a degree that the Minister of Child and Family Development was required to make a number of interventions although you were never removed from her care. [ 50 ] It is clear that due to her own struggles with mental health issues, she was unable and continues to be unable to be an effective parent for you.

For example, she was unable to ensure that you attended school and could not provide the required supervision to ensure that you did not breach the terms of your bail. [ 51 ] The psychosocial report indicates that you were not always the person who appears in court today. Your developmental milestones were reached quite early as an infant. Your kindergarten report card indicated that you were a “caring, hard-working student who showed an interest in learning”. You did well in grades one and two.

In grade three you were “recommended for participation in the school’s Challenge Program where students would be involved in problem solving activities and an advanced computer project to construct multi-media presentations”. “It was noted that [you] had excellent work habits and study skills; although [you] often showed a lack of confidence in [your] own abilities”. [ 52 ] In grade four you started missing school and disengaged from learning.

It appears that around this time your father returned to the home and there was conflict between your parents including physical abuse that resulted in a restraining order being put in place that was ignored by them. You, your brother and your mother accessed counselling services in 2008 and 2009. You lost confidence in yourself and stopped doing any work at or for school. You got by with C minus grades. In grade 6 you reported being bullied at school.

[ 53 ] By grade nine your attendance at school declined further and in grade 10 you missed 122 days of school and failed all of your courses. [ 54 ] Since being detained, you have demonstrated that you are a capable student but that you are not prepared to do even a minimal amount of work. [ 55 ] You have strengths on which you can build. Testing indicates that you have the intelligence to complete not only high school but post-secondary education. You have had a challenging early life.

However, it appears that you initially enjoyed success academically and socially at school but disengaged and stopped trying - in school and in life. [ 56 ] It appears that when real life became too hard, you retreated into the online world and became increasingly socially isolated. While you may think that you enjoyed greater success in the online world, that success was an illusion. You have been left with severely limited social skills and a significant education deficit to make up. I am sure that I do not need to tell you that your online so-called friends do not really care about you.

Your computer skills have been focussed on anti-social applications that will lead you only to a lifetime in prison. [ 57 ] You have indicated that your aspirations are limited to living alone in a small apartment, working in some kind of computer based job and ordering in pizza. That is the life of a loser. You are too smart and too talented for such a small life. If left to that life, I have little doubt that you will be bored and become involved again in a life of crime with disastrous consequences for you. You are now being sentenced as a young person where the length of a sentence is limited to two years.

Your lawyer told us that he has warned you that if you go back to doxing or swatting or other forms of online harassment of others upon your release from the detention centre, you will be an adult and, with your record, the consequences will likely be a lengthy jail sentence. I agree with your lawyer about what will happen to you if you don’t make a change.

It is my job in sentencing you to do my best to ensure that does not happen, for your sake and for the sake of the safety and wellbeing of the public. [ 58 ] Crown counsel has proposed a global sentence of 16 months of incarceration followed by 8 months of community supervision. He calculates that you were held in custody awaiting your third bail hearing from Dec. 5-8, 2014 and that you are entitled to credit for this time at 1.5 days for each day that you were held in custody (so six days).

The period from December 9 when you were denied bail to today, July 9 is 213 days and so you have time served of 217 days with time credited of 219 days. A 16 month sentence is approximately 480 days and so you must serve an additional 261 days. He advised that your release date would be in March, 2016. [ 59 ] Crown counsel seeks a period of community supervision of 8 months with a large number of conditions.

He argues that a fit and appropriate sentence must take into account the youth sentencing principles of the promotion of a sense of responsibility in the offender, the removal of the offender from the community and rehabilitation. [ 60 ] Your lawyer argued that as a result of your incarceration you had learned your lesson. He characterized you as a very foolish young man who had fallen in with the wrong crowd on the internet. He pointed out that you had not only pleaded guilty but had come forward and told the police everything that you had done.

He pointed out that without that cooperation from you, it would have been very difficult and very expensive for the Crown to prove its case in that witnesses would have had to be flown in from all over North America. [ 61 ] He submitted that you had learned your lesson from your experience in custody and that you should be released for a period of community supervision in the home of your mother and your brother. [ 62 ] When I asked you what you needed, you recognized that school was important and that you needed to become more motivated to work at your studies.

You thought that you were developing some connections with staff and residents at the detention centre and that your social skills were evolving. You thought that you should spend more time outdoors and “being a normal teenager”. [ 63 ] A fit and appropriate sentence must be determined based on the principles set out in the Youth Criminal Justice Act .

Section 38 states that the purpose of sentencing is to hold a young person accountable for an offence through the imposition of just sanctions that have meaningful consequences for the young person and that promote his rehabilitation and reintegration into society. [ 64 ] Mitigating factors include your young age (16 or 17) at the time the offences were committed and the fact that you have no youth record.

Additionally, by pleading guilty to 23 charges, you have saved the public the very significant burden and expense of prosecuting 46 charges. [ 65 ] A significant aggravating factor is the impact of these offences on your victims and on the public as a whole. You caused trauma, distress and financial harm to many of your victims and disrupted the operations and wasted the resources of eight police departments and several other public safety agencies. [ 66 ] A second significant aggravating factor is that you continued to commit offences after being charged and released on bail.

Nearly all of the 23 offences to which you have pleaded guilty were committed between January and December, 2014. You were charged initially with three offences and released on bail in March, 2014. You committed ten further offences during the period that you were on your first bail order. You were charged with further offences and on October 2, 2014 you were released on bail again. Between October 2, 2014 and December 5, 2014, you committed at least six further offences. Only being detained in custody has stopped you.

While you were committing these additional offences, you were well aware that you had been charged and the potential consequences arising from further criminal activity. You had also promised the court not to use your computer unless under supervision. Instead, you used your computer to commit more crimes of a similar nature. [ 67 ] I am directed by

section 39 of the Youth Criminal Justice Act to consider all alternatives to a custodial sentence raised at the hearing that are reasonable in the circumstances. Crown counsel proposed no alternatives to a significant period of custody as reasonable. Your lawyer submitted that your time in custody to date had been instructive for you and had effectively addressed the lesser sentencing objective of specific deterrence. He argued that you had learned your lesson and should be released into the community and the supervision of your mother.

[68] Many factors have led me to conclude that there is no reasonable alternative to a custodial sentence in your case.

They includethe seriousness of the offences; the order of magnitude of your criminal activity within a period of less than one year; the fact that younot only failed to comply with the terms of two separate releases but that you committed more offences of the same nature while releasedinto the community; and the opinion of the psychiatrist and the psychologist that you pose a very high risk to commit further offencesupon your release. [69] The maximum sentence that is available under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for a young person who has committed offencesthat do not carry a maximum penalty of life imprisonment is two years.

The offences that you have committed are covered by this twoyear maximum length of sentence. The legislation further prescribes that where the court makes a custodial sentence followed bycommunity supervision, the period of supervision must be half as long as the custodial sentence. [70] I must also ensure that the sentence that I impose does not result in a punishment that is greater than what would be appropriatefor an adult for the same offence in similar circumstances. The technology that you used to commit these offences is so new that veryfew adults have been sentenced for similar offences.

Counsel advised that only one Canadian case was of assistance to me: R. v.Lapoleon 2008 BCPC 80 , 2008 BCPC 0080 that involved a terrorist hoax. Judge Rideout reviewed sentences imposed in anumber of cases in other jurisdictions. The cases that appear closest to this case were R. v. Walters [2002] ECWA Crim 1114 in which a19 year old accused was sentenced to one year for one incident of reporting that a bomb had been planted in an airport and R. v. Donnelly(1992) 13 Cr. App.

R. (S.) 684 where a 20 year old reported to the police that he had heard someone say that a bomb had been planted ata school and was sentenced to two years in a youth facility for a single offence. [71] In contrast, in this case you have pleaded guilty to nine counts of criminal harassment, eight counts of public mischief, fourcounts of extortion, one count of breach of recognisance and one count of uttering a threat.

While you may have been encouraged byonline associates, you acted alone in a pre-meditated, systematic and underhanded way to identify your victims, uncover their personalinformation through deception and utilize that information to harass and extort from them. You caused them distress, anxiety,humiliation and financial loss. Your motivation was the pleasure of inflicting harm upon them and momentary prestige amongst certainonline peers. [72] As set out earlier in this decision, swatting is not a harmless prank or practical joke.

At best, it is a waste of vital publicresources on which people depend and at worst it could lead to the loss of life of an innocent person. Your offences not only wasted thetime and resources of a large number of police and other public safety agencies across North America. You also inflicted fear, traumaand humiliation on your innocent victims. [73] I am persuaded that a custodial sentence of 16 months followed by a period of community supervision of 8 months is a fit andappropriate sentence in your case.

It is also my view that the highly structured environment of the detention centre with therapeuticsupport in place will best assist you in your rehabilitation. [74] I have grave concerns about a plan that allows you to reside with your mother and brother and urge the ICSS Youth Workerwho is assigned to you to explore whether another residential option can be found. I have no doubt that your mother loves you. She hasattended court to support you.

However, she has consistently failed to provide effective supervision for you, not only during the tworecent periods of bail but over the last five years when you were regularly missing school. She expressed similar concerns in herinterview with the psychiatric social worker stating the view that “she does not know how they will manage his computer restrictions” ifyou return home after your release.

The most important role for your mother and brother to play in your life at this time is to support youemotionally as best they can. [75] During your time in custody it is my expectation that you will continue to pursue your education with diligence, that you willmake a sincere effort to interact in a positive and friendly manner with staff and residents, and that you will engage fully with the mentalhealth professionals that provide psychotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy as recommended in the psychiatric and psychologyreports that I have referred to in this decision.

It is also my expectation that you will be allowed no exposure to the internet and theWorld Wide Web. It is my hope that you will benefit from the structure and discipline that this time in custody provides. [76] It is clear from your test scores that you can aspire to any kind of job and life that you wish to pursue. It is clear from reports ofyour earlier life that you can succeed at school and make friends.

It is clear from the psychosocial report that you were once a differentperson from the young man who stands before me today. [77] Your greatest challenge lies just ahead and it will take great effort on your part. The last seven or eight years of your life havebeen a waste of time in that you have not put in any effort to develop the social and academic skills, work habits and moral compass thatare required to succeed in the real world. While a detention centre is an artificial environment, it is also a structured environment -something that most children and youth need in order to thrive.

You have had no structure at all in your life. You have recently enjoyedsome positive interaction with peers and staff and taken some steps to catch up on school while in the detention centre. [78] It may be that at some point you choose to work in the field of computers and the online world but at this point in time you arenot ready to make that choice. [79] During your sentence you will engage in every type of activity except being on the computer and accessing the online world. Itwill be your job to make every effort to find that young boy inside you who had so much potential.

You need to care again, aboutyourself and others. You need to catch up on your education and that means working at it like everybody else. You need to interactpositively with people and make friends. You need to genuinely engage with psychotherapy and counselling. In short, you need to re-engage with the real world and grow up all over again. [80] I am also directing that you be brought before me every four months over the next sixteen months to advise me of your progresswith your education, your therapy and your community work service. [81] Stand up.

[ 82 ] You are ordered to serve 16 months in custody. I am content to use 480 days as the measure of that time. You awaited bail for four days in December, 2014 commencing on December 5, 2014 for which you will be credited with six days. The period from December 9 to today, July 9, 2015 is 213 days which will be credited at 1:1. To summarize, you have time served of 217 days and time credited of 219 days.

You therefore have 261 days that remain to be served. [ 83 ] The period in custody is to be followed by eight months to be served under supervision in the community, subject to conditions. [ 84 ] If you breach any of the conditions, while you are under supervision in the community, you may be brought back into custody and required to serve the rest of the second period in custody as well. [ 85 ] You should also be aware that, under other provisions of the Youth Criminal Justice Act , a court could require you to serve the second period in custody as well. [ 86 ] The periods in custody and under supervision in the community may be changed if you are or become subject to another sentence. [ 87 ] The conditions are: 1.

You are to keep the peace and be of good behaviour. 2. You are to appear before me with a representative from the detention centre or your Youth Probation Officer or Intensive Support and Supervision Program Youth Worker at regular four month intervals from today. 3. You are to report in person to a Youth Probation officer at Fernwood Lodge, 2601 Lougheed Highway, Coquitlam, BC within 72 hours of your release and thereafter as directed by your Youth Probation Officer. 4.

You are to reside as directed by your Youth Probation Officer and not change your residence without the prior written consent of your Youth Probation Officer. You must provide your residential address and telephone number to your Youth Probation Officer. 5. You are to cooperate and participate in the Intensive Support and Supervision Program and follow all directives of the Youth Worker assigned to you under the ISSP. 6.

You are to have no contact or communication, directly or indirectly, with Victims #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24 and #25 and Individuals #1, #2, #3, #4 and #5. 7. You are not to attend the residence, place of employment or place of education of Victims #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7, #8, #9, #10, #11, #12, #13, #14, #15, #16, #17, #18, #19, #20, #21, #22, #23, #24 and #25 and Individuals # 1, #2, #3, #4 and #5. 8. You are not to access the internet or the World Wide Web except under the direct supervision of your ISSP Youth Worker. 9.

You are not to possess or use any computer or other device capable of accessing the internet or World Wide Web except under the direct supervision of your ISSP Youth Worker. 10. A police officer may enter your residence at any time to search for computers or other devices that can access the internet or World Wide Web to ensure that you are in compliance with paragraphs 8 and 9. 11.

You are to attend for and participate in counselling and other therapeutic programs as directed by your Youth Probation Officer, including psychotherapy and cognitive behaviour therapy, and complete such counselling and programs to the reasonable satisfaction of your Youth Probation Officer. 12. You are to abstain absolutely from the consumption and possession of alcohol or any drugs listed in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act for which you do not have a lawful prescription in your name. 13.

You are to attend school or another appropriate educational program regularly and on time and not be late or absent except for medical reasons supported by your doctor or, with the written agreement of your Youth Probation Officer, you are to seek and maintain employment. 14. You are to perform 100 hours of Community Work Service as directed by your Youth Probation Officer and complete these hours to the reasonable satisfaction of your Youth Probation Officer within the first six months of this period of community supervision. 15.

You are not to be in possession of any weapons as defined in the Criminal Code including knives, except for the immediate preparation and consumption of food. 16. You are not to have in your possession any firearm, imitation firearm, crossbow, prohibited weapon, restricted weapon, prohibited device, ammunition, prohibited ammunition or explosive substance, or any authorizations or registrations held by you until dealt with according to law. [ 88 ] Because you have pleaded guilty to extortion, I must make an order under

section 487.051 that samples shall be taken from you by buccal swab for DNA analysis. [ 89 ] Because you pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and criminal harassment is a designated offence under

section 109 of the Criminal Code , I also make an order prohibiting you from possessing any firearm, other than a prohibited firearm or restricted firearm,

crossbow, restricted weapon, ammunition or explosive substance for a period of 10 years from the date of your release from custody and prohibiting you from possessing any prohibited firearm, restricted firearm, prohibited weapon, prohibited device and prohibited ammunition for life. ____________________________ The Honourable Judge P. Janzen Provincial Court of British Columbia