Pelland faces charges in Texas
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A convicted North Okanagan sex offender is facing similar charges in Texas.
Harvey James Pelland, 74, is facing seven charges relating to child pornography after Texas officials seized his home computer when he was arrested in April for failing to register in Texas as a sex offender.
“Harvey Pelland is facing two counts of possession of child pornography, and five counts of receipt of a visual depiction of a minor engaging in sexual explicit conduct,” explained Vernon RCMP spokesman Gord Molendyk.
The latter charge is one not found in Canada.
Pelland was sentenced in July to three years in a federal U.S. prison for failing to register as a sex offender.
If convicted of the seven new charges, his prison sentence will likely be extended.
Pelland, who was convicted in 2007 of possessing child pornography after setting up a video camera in a Lumby area home he shared with a woman and her young daughter in order to film the young girl, had been living in Big Spring, Texas, located 100 miles south of Lubbock and 45 miles east of Midland.
He was arrested in April, and held in custody.
Following his conviction for the Lumby incident, upon his release from prison, Pelland was to be placed on three years probation with strict conditions, which included not being allowed to attend a public park, playground or community centre where children under 17 will or can reasonably be expected to be at.
He was not allowed to go near day care centres and was not to have a computer or any device that gives him access to the Internet.
Pelland skipped the North Okanagan and went down to the Lower Mainland, where he was arrested in White Rock coming out of a park.
In November, 2007, he reported to a probation office in Vernon for the final time.
Canada Customs alerted Vernon RCMP on Nov. 20, 2007 that Pelland – who holds dual citizenship – had crossed the border into the United States.
In April of this year, Vernon RCMP started receiving phone calls from an unidentified person, who confirmed they were calling from Texas, asking about Harvey Pelland.
An outstanding warrant for breach of conditions in Canada still applies to Pelland, but it’s doubtful he will be returned to the North Okanagan upon his release from prison in the U.S. to face the charge.
