Moncton residents are expressing shock and anger after a man convicted of child pornography involving children at his wife’s residential daycare was sentenced to 12 months in jail.
Jeffrey Adam Amos admitted to videotaping a number of young children using the bathroom at the daycare in Moncton. He pleaded guilty to five counts of voyeurism and one count of possession of child pornography in April.
In Moncton provincial court on Monday, Amos received a one-year sentence, minus time already served, which means he will spend another seven months in jail.
Many social media users are going online to express their disgust over what they feel was a slap on a wrist.
“He should have gotten more…he’s obviously got issues!” said one Facebook user.
“A year? That’s it?” said another.
“Disgusting. Not nearly enough time,” said a third.
Almost 100 comments were posted on a Facebook page dedicated to the sentence in a 24-hour period.
“I think people were basically horrified,” says Facebook moderator Trish Young. “What he did was a terrible thing.”
Young also feels the sentence Amos received was too lenient and is now leading an email campaign, asking MLAs to change the laws and demand stricter sentences for child sex offenders.
“These people have to be kept off the street longer for what they did,” she says. “Those kids will live with that the rest of their lives.”
Police started investigating Amos in October 2012 after receiving a complaint from the parents’ of one of the children who attended the daycare.
She told her mother she saw herself on Amos’ computer and that there was a camera in the bathroom.
Police later recovered video that showed the 32-year-old Moncton man entering the bathroom, putting the camera down, and covering it with a washcloth.
The court heard that Amos had set up the videocamera in 2012 and recorded girls as young as seven who attended the daycare.
The girls were filmed in various stages of undress and while they were on the toilet in the bathroom of the couple's home.
Police arrested Amos in February and seized computers and data storage equipment as part of the investigation.
The one-year sentence was a joint recommendation from the Crown and the defence.
During her closing statement to the judge, Crown prosecutor Karen Lee Lamrock cited previous similar cases on which she based her recommendation.
Despite being consulted by the Crown, one of the victim’s mothers says Amos got off too easy.
"I think it's not near enough time," she says. "He victimized five children. He betrayed everyone's trust and he should have gotten more."
Amos will face three years of probation upon his release and must abide by a long list of conditions, including no contact with anyone under the age of 16.
Amos must comply with the sex offender registry for ten years and submit a sample for a sex offender DNA data base.
The daycare at the centre of the case is now closed.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Jonathan MacInnis
