Doucette pleads guilty to child luring, pornography charges
Author: Charlene MacKenzie
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A 38-year-old accountant who cares for his elderly mother in Saint John admitted to using his home computer last year to download and print child pornography. He also admitted to attempting to lure children online.

Mark Anthony Doucette was in Hampton Provincial Court April 1 and was released with conditions until his May 21 sentencing while a pre-sentence report and victim impact statements are prepared.

He changed his plea to guilty on four of the five charges against him in Hampton Provincial Court April 1.

With his guilty pleas on two counts of child luring, a charge of possession of child pornography and a charge of printing child pornography, the Crown agreed to drop a charge of making a video of child pornography between Oct. 1, 2006 and Nov. 7 in Saint John.

Doucette had entered not guilty pleas Jan. 29 and his Feb. 26 court appearance was set over to April 1 to set a trial date while lawyer Marty Fineberg reviewed disclosure, resulting in the change of plea.

The Crown proceeded by indictment on three charges. Doucette was charged with, between Sept. 10 and Oct. 23 in Rothesay, communicating by computer with a person who was, or who he believed was, under age 14, for the purpose of facilitating a sex assault. He was also charged with communicating via computer with a person he believed to be under age 14 in Saint John between Oct. 13 and Oct. 22, for the purpose of exposing his genitals. His third indictable charge was possession of pictures and video depicting child pornography Nov. 7.

He was also charged with printing a photo depicting child pornography between July 1, 2006 and Nov. 7. Crown prosecutor Kelly Winchester noted the maximum sentence for each of the indictable charges is five years.

Fineberg said medical consultations are in the works to identify stressors or catalysts for Doucette's behaviour and a treatment plan to restore him "to good health from a psychological standpoint.

"He knows what he did was wrong and he's anxious to identify things that caused him to behave as he did," Fineberg said.

Doucette's release conditions were that he not be in the presence of people under age 18 unless accompanied by an adult, and that he not possess a computer at home. Fineberg explained Doucette no longer has a home computer as it was seized by police and computer access will be restricted to workplace use for work purposes only.

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