A North Vancouver man who pled guilty to sexually touching a nine-year-old girl, after being released from jail for a similar previous offence, has been sent back to prison for another 18 months and placed on the sex offender registry for life.
Daniel Justin Isto, 46, was handed the jail time Wednesday on top of six months spent in custody since his arrest in July by Judge Joanne Challenger of the North Vancouver provincial court.
The man was handed the federal jail term after pleading guilty in November to sexually assaulting the girl and to breaching the terms of a previous court order by attending a park where children were likely to be.
Crown counsel Linda Ostry told the judge that the man lived in the same neighbourhood as the nine-year-old’s family.
One summer evening in 2017, the girl and her 11-year-old sister were playing with puppies at the neighbour’s home. When the girls were called home, the younger child told her mother that Isto had “touched her in a private place,” said Ostry.
Isto has a previous criminal record for sexual touching of preteen girls.
In 2012, he was sentenced to two years and six months in jail for sexually abusing two 11-year-old girls. When the judge sentenced him in 2012, the man was deemed a “moderate risk” to reoffend.
Challenger noted the more recent sexual touching of a child happened despite Isto receiving sex offender treatment while in jail.
She added he is now considered a high risk to re-offend.
Challenger noted it was an aggravating factor that Isto sought out a friendly relationship with the child and her family despite his previous conviction.
Challenger ordered the man placed on three years’ probation following his jail term. Challenger also ordered the man to stay away from playgrounds, schools and community centres where children are likely to be, must not contact or be alone with anyone under 16, volunteer or work with children. He is also banned from dating or having a relationship with anyone who has care or access to children under 16 until after a probation officer has described his criminal history to them. The man is also banned from accessing or possessing pornography and has been placed on the sexual offender registry for life.
