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Winnipeg Free Press – PRINT EDITION
By: Mike McIntyre
Posted: 21/08/2010 1:00 AM |
A convicted Winnipeg sex tourist is back on the streets after closing the books on his international legal saga.
Doron Waldman, 38, was released from jail Friday, giving him his first taste of freedom in nearly three years. He pleaded guilty earlier in the day to possession of child pornography and was sentenced to the equivalent of 46 days of time already spent in custody.
Crown and defence lawyers agreed Waldman shouldn’t face further time behind bars because his Canadian crime stems from the same case for which he was punished in the United States. “The Americans already took into account the Canadian content,” defence lawyer Greg Brodsky told the Free Press.
Waldman was arrested in Arizona in November 2007 following a police sting operation. He’d made arrangements to go to Mexico to have sex with underage boys and was charged with travelling with the intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor.
Days later, RCMP seized a computer from Waldman’s home that revealed he had accessed 1,496 images and 23 videos of porn involving boys between the ages of seven and 15.
Waldman began trading emails in August 2007 with a person “whom he believed to be a purveyor of children for sexual activities.” Police say he sent a US$60 down payment to “secure his reservation” in October 2007 and agreed to pay a total of $600 “for the opportunity to have sex with children over a six-day period.”
An undercover agent posed as the would-be sex trafficker and had several online chats with a man believed to be Waldman. Waldman’s lawyer had claimed he was set up by police, who were waiting for him at the Tucson airport. Police say he had four cameras wrapped as gifts and US$1,400.
Waldman pleaded guilty in Arizona last year and was sentenced to 20 months in jail, in addition to 17 months of time already served. His sentence expired last month and Waldman remained in a Texas prison until he was deported to Canada last week on his outstanding charge.
“He’s been in awful American prisons for a long time. I think he wants to just hug his family,” Brodsky said.
In 2007, Waldman worked as a web developer at the CBC in Winnipeg but has since been dismissed. Dr. Shelley Uram, a psychiatrist who met with Waldman, found his “bizarre Internet exposure morphed into bizarre sexual interest.” She noted he’d been taking the antidepressant Effexor and said the onset of his fantasies came after he abruptly stopped medication. Waldman has been deemed a low risk to reoffend, and Uram found he showed “extreme empathy” for victims of child sexual abuse.”
His name will be added to the sex-offender registry.
www.mikeoncrime.com
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition August 21, 2010 A5
City sex tourist still in U.S. jail Arizona judge adds 20 months to sentence
Winnipeg Free Press
By: Mike McIntyre
Posted: 04/8/2009 1:00 AM |
Doron Waldman had hoped to be a free man on a plane bound for Canada today. Instead, the Winnipegger remains in an American prison after being sentenced to further custody in a sex-tourism case.
Waldman, 36, was given 20 more months behind bars Tuesday in addition to the 17 he has already spent since his November 2007 arrest in Arizona.
A Phoenix judge rejected Waldman’s plea for a sentence of time in custody, which would have allowed him to be deported back home. Now he must wait until his sentence expires in December 2010.
“The defendant’s actions here leave no doubt for speculation about his potential to act on his interest in children. He took actual steps towards acting on his dangerous and deviant desires,” prosecutor Carin Duryee wrote in a sentencing brief filed with the court.
Waldman admits he travelled through the United States in an attempt to have sex with underage boys in Mexico. He was arrested at the Tucson airport on charges of travelling with the intent to engage in sexual activity with a minor. Waldman was working at the time as a web developer at the CBC’s Manitoba headquarters but has since been dismissed.
Court documents obtained by the Free Press show Waldman began trading emails in August 2007 with a person “whom he believed to be a purveyor of children for sexual activities.” He responded to an ad on an Internet newsgroup that said: “If you are ‘Young at Heart’ and enjoy warm weather and HOTT fun, Mexico is cheap and we make all the arrangements.”
Waldman requested “that he be provided with male boys aged 12 to 14 for that purpose,” according to police. Waldman further wrote that he wanted “one delight per 24 hours.” Police say he sent a US$60 down payment to “secure his reservation” in October 2007 and agreed to pay a total of $600 “for the opportunity to have sex with children over a six-day period.”
An undercover agent posed as the would-be sex trafficker and had several online chats with a man believed to be Waldman. Waldman’s lawyer had previously claimed he was “set up” by police, who were waiting for him at the Tucson airport when he arrived. Police say he was in possession of four digital cameras wrapped as gifts and $1,400 in U.S. currency.
Dr. Shelley Uram, a psychiatrist who met with Waldman at the request of his lawyer, found his “bizarre Internet exposure morphed into bizarre sexual interest.” She noted he’d been taking the anti-depressant drug Effexor and said the onset of his fantasies came after he abruptly stopped medication.
“She has found that Internet-spawned sexual preoccupation can result in your average, run-of-the-mill person to start sexual fantasies totally unforeseen,” his lawyer, Thomas Higgins, wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed with the court this week.
Waldman has been deemed a low risk to re-offend, and Uram found he showed “extreme empathy” for victims of child sexual abuse. “Mr. Waldman has suffered deep physical, emotional, spiritual and psychological punishment as a result of his conduct,” Higgins said.
Manitoba RCMP seized a computer from Waldman’s home days after his arrest in which police allegedly found 1,496 images of child pornography involving boys between the ages of seven and 15. That led to additional charges against Waldman in Winnipeg, including possessing and accessing child pornography. He will be deported to Canada to face those charges once his American sentence is complete.
www.mikeoncrime.com