(BEN BULMER / iNFOnews.ca)

A 44-year-old Vernon man caught trying to lure a 14-year-old boy in a sting operation by an online vigilante group will have to wait until next year to find out whether he'll do any jail time.

David Gilbert Warnock was charged and later pleaded guilty to luring a person under the age of 16 after being caught by the local vigilante group Goofbusters.

At the Vernon courthouse, Nov. 10, Crown prosecutor Miho Ogi-Harris said that in September 2020 Warnock had responded to online messages from what he believed was a 14-year-old boy.

"The accused made a deliberate and focussed attempt to sexualize and groom and meet this 14-year-old boy," Ogi-Harris told the court.

The Crown prosecutor said the boy confirmed he was 14 years old, telling Warnock he'd be 15 in a couple of weeks. Warnock had replied, "hot."

Warnock had then asked the boy to send a photo of his pubic hair and arranged to meet at Wendy's restaurant in Vernon. Warnock had said he wanted to perform oral sex on the boy.

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Warnock arrived at Wendy's 30 minutes later, but instead of meeting a 14-year-old was confronted by an individual who formed a vigilante group, calling itself Goofbusters. Warnock then fled in his vehicle.

The individual then went to the police with the information and two days later Warnock walked into a police station heavily intoxicated and confessed to what had happened.

Sitting in a Vernon courtroom dressed in all black, Warnock sat through an entire day of deliberations from Crown and defence lawyers arguing whether or not he should do time behind bars.

The Crown argued Warnock should spend six months behind bars, while Warnock's lawyer Glenn Verdurmen, argued for six months house arrest.

The court heard how the 44-year-old was married and had a nine-year-old daughter. After being charged, Warnock had come out to his wife he was bisexual and admitted he had met men online using the popular gay dating app Grindr.

Following the charges, he'd separated from his wife and was fired by the lumber company where he'd worked for 15 years.

Verdurmen told the court a psychiatric assessment of Warnock had concluded he was not a pedophile and was at the lowest range to re-offend.

"He is remorseful and ashamed of his actions," the defence lawyer told the court.

Verdurmen said that Warnock had been a heavy drinker and that even though he'd lost his job and separated from his family he did not collapse into drinking, and had found other employment and was putting his life back together.

The defence lawyer also argued Warnock was "willfully blind" and was role-playing.

However, the defence of role-playing didn't sit well with the Crown who suggested if Warnock didn't accept responsibility his guilty plea should be struck from the record and a full trial should take place.

The court also heard a moral question that as there was no victim in the crime should a lighter sentence be imposed?

"This offence is a serious offence it doesn’t diminish because the person isn’t real," Ogi-Harris told the court.

Following a day of complex legal arguments, Warnock was given the chance to address the court.

"I really did mess up and I know that and I am very remorseful," he said. "I hurt my family, I hurt my society, I lost my job, I hit rock bottom when this all happened.

"I'm willing to do anything to continue to better myself and prove that I'm not this person that one night, one day of texting was, I'm not that person."

Provincial court Judge Roy Dickey then adjourned the court to decide what sentence Warnock should get.

The case also appears to have been made more complex by the fact that the mandatory minimum sentence is six months jail. If the judge decides to grant a sentence of house arrest Crown prosecutors will make a constitutional challenge.

And the Crown doesn't appear to be optimistic it will get a jail sentence as a second Crown prosecutor appeared by phone throughout the day in preparation if the case goes to a constitutional challenge.

The judge said the court would reconvene sometime in the new year.

— This story was updated at 10:45 a.m. Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022, to remove the name of the individual that set up the Goofbusters sting.

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