Edmonton photographer guilty of sexual offences against minors, jury decides
Christopher Lafrance, 51, guilty of 9 offences including possessing child pornography
An Edmonton photographer has been found guilty on nine sexual offences involving minors.
Christopher Lafrance, 51, was on trial for two counts each of making and possessing child pornography, two counts each of sexual interference and luring a child and one count of invitation to sexual touching.
After a full day of deliberating, the three-women, nine-men jury came back with its verdict at about 4 p.m. Friday.
The trial started Oct. 28, at which time Lafrance pleaded not guilty to all charges.
One victim was in the courtroom with her family and cried as the verdicts were read.
Following the verdict, Court of Queen's Bench Justice Paul Belzil ordered Lafrance to be taken into custody but the court did not set a date for Lafrance to be sentenced.
Belzil called the crimes "two very disturbing offences against two young girls."
Lafrance was charged after two female clients under 16 filed complaints with police, one in May and June 2016 and the other in July and August 2015.
The first complainant went to police on June 12, 2016, alleging Lafrance took photographs of her in revealing poses and touched her inappropriately.
The second complainant, whose allegations stemmed from incidents in 2015, came forward after police announced they had charged Lafrance.
During the trial, court heard from three police officers who were involved in the investigation.
Officers searched Lafrance's residence in June 2016 and uncovered 30 items related to the investigation, including camera equipment, a memory stick, a computer and cell phone.
The Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) Internet Child Exploitation Unit was also involved in the investigation.