A Coquitlam teen who pleaded guilty to "swatting" young gamers' homes around North America is at a high risk to re-offend, a Crown lawyer told a judge Monday.
Prosecutor Michael Bauer read from three psychiatrist and social worker reports during a sentencing hearing for the 17-year-old, who cannot be identified because of his age.
Both psychiatrists who interviewed the teen recommended the court impose computer and internet bans due to his "revengeful" and "sadistic" cyberbullying traits.
The teen pleaded guilty to 23 of 40 charges he was facing for extortion, public mischief and criminal harassment. He committed the crimes last year against targets in Canada and the U.S.
Coquitlam RCMP arrested him last December after he placed a 911 call that prompted police in Tucson, Ariz., to deploy its SWAT (special weapons and tactics) team to the home of a University of Arizona student.
Reading from the first report, Bauer said the teen told a psychiatrist the Arizona student "deserved" to be swatted and he blamed her for his aberrant actions.
The teen claimed his swats "amused" his victims and gained him respect and admiration from the online community with which he was linked. As most of his victims were young women, they were more emotional and would yield a greater amusement value, Bauer read.
The teen also disavowed responsibility for what other people did with his victims' credit card numbers that he exposed on the internet.
The psychiatrist characterized the teen as having a narcissistic personality, taking "sadistic delight in the discomfort he caused his victims," Bauer told the judge.
Another psychiatrist wrote about the teen's abusive, chaotic and disruptive childhood while the social worker wrote about his school's attempts to convince him to attend. The school officials noted the teen's home was "impoverished and filthy," and his mother couldn't control him.
The teen also told the psychiatrists he wasn't interested in leaving his online community and he had no motivation other than to live in a small apartment with his computer.
Bauer told the judge the teen's 29 victims — whose names were read out in court but cannot be identified under a publication ban — were traumatized after police surrounded their homes (some with police helicopters hovering above), led out at gunpoint and in handcuffs in front of their neighbours. Many had to take steps to protect their online security.
Bauer said the teen's "astounding number of offences" last year also caused police to divert resources from serious emergencies in their respective cities.
Defence lawyer Stephen Martin was brief in his submission, telling Judge Patricia Janzen his client was 16 years old at the time of the crime — "The stupidest age group in society. I don't think he understood the consequences," Martin said.
He called the teen a loner and a computer geek who was part of an online group involving 20 people.
"He isn't a lone wolf," Martin said.
By voluntarily confessing to his crimes, Martin said the teen saved prosecutors from having to fly in the victims from around North America and put them up in hotels to testify and prove the allegations. "He gave the Crown their case on a silver platter," Martin said, noting the teen saved taxpayers $150,000 in costs by avoiding a trial.
Dressed in a green prison uniform and occasionally flipping his hair to the side, the teen told the judge he wanted to return to school.
"I see that I was having a lot of time on my hands," he said of last year. "I wasn't really doing anything productive and that can lead to criminal activity."
The teen said he had no career paths but he wanted to get outside, develop his social skills and be "a normal teenager."
"You haven't really had a childhood, I'll tell you, by what I've read," the judge responded.
The Crown is seeking a 16-month custodial sentence — minus the eight months he has already served — plus another eight months under community supervision.
If those conditions are imposed, that would mean the teen would be out of jail in March 2016.
The Crown is also seeking a number of conditions, including no-contact orders for his 29 victims, no internet or computer access, permission for peace officers to search his home for computers and 100 hours of community work.
The judge is scheduled to render her decision July 9.
jwarren@tricitynews.com
@jwarrenTC
