Former Athabasca youth worker Jason Andrew Keough was sentenced Friday to 27 months in prison on charges related to voyeurism and possession of child pornography.
Keough, 37, was convicted Jan. 24 on two counts of possessing child pornography, one count of voyeurism and one count of making voyeuristic material.
The charges against Keough were based on incidents alleged to have occurred between 2005 and 2008, during which time Keough worked at the Athabasca Native Friendship Centre, Edwin Parr Composite School, and later Alberta Children and Youth Services’ Athabasca office.
During his trial, three male Crown witnesses each testified that Keough provided them with equipment to videotape themselves masturbating or having sex with their girlfriends. In one of the tapes, Keough can be seen trying to hide the camera under a pile of clothes in a bedroom.
Two women depicted in the videotapes also testified tearfully during Keough’s trial. One, who was 15 when the tape was made, said she was told it had been destroyed. The other woman testified that she was not aware she and her then-boyfriend were being videotaped.
Videotapes depicting the acts were among those seized from Keough’s Athabasca home during an RCMP search in 2008.
The sentence, handed down by Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Donald Manderscheid, is nine months longer than Crown prosecutor Diane Hollinshead recommended during sentencing arguments in March, and may be also be precedent-setting: the sentence includes jail time for voyeurism; which according to Manderscheid has never been done for a voyeurism conviction in Canada.
Manderscheid said Keough’s background as a youth worker would suggest he ought to be appearing in court as an expert witness, not a convicted criminal. “There is no possibility he couldn’t have understood that (his actions were) abusive and immoral,” he said.
