A 46-year-old North Vancouver man who chatted up a 13-year-old girl over the Internet and told her he would drive down to the U.S. and pick her up will learn his fate next month.
A Crown prosecutor and defence lawyer are both recommending a conditional sentence of one to two years for Corland Embley, who pleaded guilty to Internet luring in provincial court. Embley struck up an online relationship with the 13-year-old and continued it for several months in 2009, telling her he would either adopt or marry her.
Police in Colorado were alerted to a supposed plan for the two to run away together just days before the girl was to climb out her bedroom window in August 2009 and meet Embley. Detectives quickly contacted the girl's parents after one of her friends told a relative about the scheme to run away.
Police officers then secretly took over the girl's online identity to talk to Embley, while tracking him through various server addresses.
Crown counsel Nicole Gregoire told provincial court judge Carol Baird Ellan at a sentencing hearing Sept. 23 that the two first met online through an iTouch pets application, and chatted through various sites geared to teens. At first, Embley told the girl he was a 14-year-old boy from Canada, while she told him she was 13 and revealed she was having problems at home.
After about a month of online chatting, he confessed he was really 44 years old. "He wanted to marry her, but she said she didn't want to get married, so he said he would adopt her," said Gregoire. "He said if he adopted her, she would have a better life."
Gregoire said the girl told detectives their discussions were never sexually graphic, although there were general conversations about sex between the two.
In one of his messages, Embley greeted the girl with, "Good morning sexy" telling her, "I want to kiss you all over."
When police searched Embley's computer, they found several photos of the girl, although none were sexual. They also found images of other adolescent girls.
Police also traced the history of Embley's Internet activity and found it included plotting the girl's address in Colorado into Google maps.
The day before the two were to meet, however, Embley sent a message to the girl, saying he couldn't come because he had a doctor's appointment.
After the girl stopped communicating with Embley - but before he was arrested- Embley tried to track her down, contacting her family by Facebook and email claiming to be a 15-year-old boy.
"That caused quite a bit of stress to the family," said Gregoire.
Embley was eventually arrested when police entered his home with a warrant in January 2010, seizing his computer. Gregoire said he has no prior convictions and is described by psychologists as an "exceedingly low risk to re-offend."
But she added the length of time Embley communicated with the girl when he knew she was 13 was troubling. These days, children are frequently online, she said. "These crimes are difficult to detect."
Embley's defence lawyer Joel Whysall described what happened as a "very unusual case."
He also gave his real name and address on the chat sites he used to communicate with the girl, said Whysall. "The real predators who are online do not use their real address, real name or real email," he said.
Embley has also been diagnosed with Asperger's syndrome, an autism spectrum disorder characterized by social ineptness, said Whysall, adding his client is immature and shy.
A psychologist's report said Embley was not a pedophile, not a sexual predator and presented a "very, very low risk" to reoffend, Whysall added.
The judge has reserved her decision until a later date.
