METRO VANCOUVER -- A Surrey pastor has been sentenced to 15 months in jail for making a "rape" video involving a teenage girl. Larry Robert Collins, 45, of the Church of Nazarene in Guildford was convicted of possession of child pornography and sentenced Tuesday in Surrey provincial court to 15 months in jail and three years probation.
He was fired from his pastoral job in September last year. Transitional pastor Doug Woods said this latest news is stirring fresh grief among the church's congregation. He likened it to opening an old wound. "This breaking news," he said, "was like a second or third wave. It's been a wave of disappointment and shock again."
The B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit began a child porn investigation on June 10, 2008 concerning a video showing a young teenage girl. "The video included sexually explicit scenes and was interspersed with photographs of the victim on which writing encouraged her 'rape,'" said Const. Rosiane Racine, of the ICEU.
Police are withholding the victim's name and whereabouts. "The investigation led police to Pastor Larry Robert Collins of Surrey, B.C., who confessed to making the video and distributing it on the Internet," Racine said.
Collins also made online accounts impersonating the victim and encouraging web surfers to visit a site where the video was displayed, Racine added. "Collins also posted the victim's name and home town, which jeopardized the child's safety."
He was originally charged with distributing and possessing child pornography but the Crown stayed the distribution charge. "Despite being shaken up by the incident," Racine noted, "the teenage girl is safe and sound with her family."
