ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — A Conception Bay South man who had been accused of pretending to be a woman to lure a child online was acquitted Wednesday, after the judge determined the Crown had not presented enough evidence to support its case.
Jeffrey Fowler, 31, had been charged with internet child luring and making sexually explicit material available to a child after he had engaged in conversations online and through texts with an RNC officer posing as a teenage girl. He pleaded not guilty.
During Fowler’s two-day trial last February, the court heard testimony from Const. Terry Follett, then an investigator in a joint RNC/RCMP child exploitation unit. Follett told the court he had collected a five-month chat log hundreds of pages long that included requests from Fowler for nude photos, the exchange of pictures and talk of school, curfews and sneaking out of the house. A video played in the courtroom of Fowler’s interview with police after his arrest saw Follett presenting Fowler with the chat log on paper.
None of those documents were presented at trial, however, leaving provincial court Judge Lois Skanes with nothing to consider but Follett’s testimony, a copy of a personals ad Fowler had posted online and a brief innocuous text exchange between Fowler and the alleged child moments before his arrest.
“There were written messages. Where are they? You haven’t given me any of them. I’ve nothing. Tell me, what do I do with that?” Skanes asked prosecutor Jennifer Colford near the end of the trial.
It isn’t clear why the documents were not submitted as evidence.
Fowler acknowledged he had posted a Craigslist ad in June 2016 under the title, “Rainy Day Boredom, WFW (woman for woman).”
“Hey. Crappy day out. Anyone wanna chat. See where it goes. Up for anything. Have pics to share. XO,” the ad read.
Follett replied to the ad, saying he was a 15-year-old bisexual girl and asking, “Is that too young for you?”
The person who responded to Follett’s message indicated they were a 21-year-old woman from Kilbride and the ensuing conversation was often sexual, with the woman asking for nude and sexy photos and video. She also reportedly sent Follet’s covert teenage identity a topless photo of herself; the photo was actually of a woman Fowler had met on an online dating site, the court heard.
Fowler was arrested after police traced the texts to his phone. An examination of the phone revealed the police officer’s number as a contact with no name and a brief text conversation with his covert teenage identity before the arrest.
Acquitting Fowler Wednesday morning, Skanes said she had not been provided with enough evidence to say Fowler was guilty. There was nothing to suggest he had been aware he was conversing with a child, she ruled.
“Without seeing any of the texts or emails or photographs which the accused is alleged to have sent, it is also not possible to determine if the communications were of such a nature as to permit a finding that the communications were for the purpose of committing (a child luring offence),” Skanes said. “Further, I have not been shown or provided with any photograph or other sexually explicit material which would substantiate the charge (of making such material available to a child). In all of the foregoing, I find that the Crown has not proven the essential elements of the offences charged beyond a reasonable doubt and the charges are dismissed.”
Twitter: @tara_bradbur
