Former Brampton cadet officer convicted of child luring, sentenced to 16 months in prison
Published February 28, 2023 at 12:54 pm
A Brampton man who worked as a cadet officer has been found guilty of child luring and sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Steve Kavanagh, currently age 44, was arrested in early 2020 after Peel Regional Police were notified of a man who was communicating online in a sexual manner with someone he believed to be a 15-year-old girl.
From March to June 2019, Kavanagh repeatedly communicated with “Eve” using the messaging app Kik, after responding to a an online post from Eve’s “father”, who was offering his daughter’s sexual services for sale.
However, Eve and her father were personas created by U.S. law enforcement officials.
“As a result, although he believed he was communicating with a child, Mr. Kavanagh was only ever communicating with two police officers who, at different points, each played the role of a 15-year-old girl during the months-long police investigation,” according to court documents.
On multiple occasions, Kavanagh shared sexually explicit images of himself as well as pornographic images and videos.
Videos
Justice James Stribopoulos noted that the officers pretending to be Eve attempted to organize a meet-up with Kavanagh, at which point Kavanagh stopped replying.
After U.S. authorities notified the Canadian police service, Kavanagh was arrested by Peel police on February 4, 2020 on the charges of Luring a child with intent to commit sexual assault, Luring a child with intent to commit sexual interference, and Distributing sexually explicit material to a child.
He was found guilty by a jury in January 2023 and sentenced to 16 months in prison.
Court documents also show that Kavanagh was a Canadian Armed Forces Reserve Force member, primarily involved with the Cadet Program where he worked with cadets aged 12 to 18. Before his arrest in February 2020, Kavanagh had reached the rank of acting major.
As a result of his arrest and charges, the Canadian Armed Forces suspended Mr. Kavanagh from active duty.
There are no reports of misconduct between Kavanagh and any of the youths in the Cadet Program.
In addition to his 16-month prison sentence, Kavanagh is required to serve three years’ probation upon release, pay a $200 victim surcharge, and be listed as a registered sex offender for 20 years.
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