North Vancouver man jailed in ‘sextortion’ case

A North Vancouver man will serve time in jail for his actions in a ‘sextortion’ case, which a prosecutor compared to the Amanda Todd case.

On Monday, Judge Steven Merrick of the North Vancouver provincial court sentenced 23-year-old Mark Webber to 60 days in jail, to be served on weekends, for carrying out threats to send a sexually explicit video of a teenaged girl to a number of her Facebook friends. Webber also posted the video on a pornographic website after the woman refused to send him nude photographs of herself, as he had demanded.

Merrick described Webber’s actions, carried out under a fake name, as “a planned and deliberate crime done with the intention to embarrass and humiliate” his victim.

“What strikes me about this crime is just how mean it is,” said the judge. “You had to know there was going to be only one possible outcome when you clicked send,” he told Webber. “You knew you were going to hurt (the woman) and you were going to hurt her badly. You knew the only result was going to be harm.”

Webber identified the victim  by name with the video, said the judge, exposing her to further online harassment. Because of the nature of the online world, it’s possible that video will continue to circulate forever, said Merrick.

Following the release of the video — obtained from a former boyfriend’s cell phone, which had been stolen — the woman quit her job and her post-secondary studies and started taking anti-depressants. The woman’s parents were also profoundly affected by Webber’s actions, the judge said.

It took police investigators over a year to trace Webber and execute a search warrant on his parents’ home, where he had been living in a basement suite, and seizing his computer. Webber then gave a lengthy statement, confessing and apologizing for his actions.

Webber’s defence lawyer Michael Mines had asked the judge for suspended sentence, noting Webber was 20 years old at the time of the offence, was depressed and socially isolated, spending his time playing video games all day.

Mines described Webber’s actions as completely out of character. He added his client is very remorseful.

But “once you hit send on the Facebook friends, it’s out there,” he said during an earlier sentencing hearing last week. “Mr. Webber can’t get those messages back.”

Both Webber’s family and the victim and her family attended the sentencing, sitting on opposite sides of the courtroom.

The judge noted because Webber acknowledged causing his victim severe psychological harm, he wasn’t eligible for a conditional sentence that could be served in the community.

Merrick said although Webber is a first-time offender with no criminal record, the jail sentence was needed to send a message.

“What is to be taken from this decision…those who wish to prey on the vulnerability of others…you are going to jail,” he said.