Should a registered sex offender who admitted to sexting with a 15-year-old co-worker at a Kamloops pizza shop when he was 22 be allowed to become a lawyer?
According to the Law Society of B.C., no — at least not yet.
The Law Society released yesterday its decision on the application of the 29-year-old former Thompson Rivers University student. At the request of the applicant, he is not named in the decision.
He applied to the Law Society in October 2014 to become an articled student — one of the last steps for law students before they become lawyers. Because of a number of issues in his past, including a criminal record, a hearing was held last May in front of a Law Society panel.
The panel heard the applicant enrolled in undergrad studies at Thompson Rivers University in 2009.
Also that year, he was employed as a delivery driver for a Kamloops pizza shop.
He became involved in a flirtatious relationship with a 15-year-old co-worker and they eventually became involved, to a limited extent, romantically.
The panel heard the two exchanged racy text messages and the applicant pressured the teen to send him nude photos. She sent pictures of herself in various states of undress.
The panel described the texts as disturbing.
“They are explicit and profane and would reflect very poor judgement even if they were sent to someone much older than a 15-year-old girl,” the panel stated.
The girl’s mother found the texts and called police.
The applicant turned himself in to Kamloops RCMP in September 2009 and spent the night in jail.
In 2011, he pleaded guilty to luring and was later handed a one-year conditional sentence and ordered to register as a sex offender for a decade — a term that expires in 2022.
The applicant found himself in hot water again in November 2014, while a law student at the University of B.C.
At a law school event, the panel heard, he threw an alcoholic drink at a female student who had insulted his appearance. He was banned from future law school events.
The following month, police busted him behind the wheel of a car-share vehicle after consuming seven to nine drinks. He was given an automatic 90-day driving ban.
Kamloops lawyer and former provincial court judge Bill Sundhu wrote a character reference for the applicant. The two met when the applicant volunteered on Sundhu’s campaign as a New Democrat candidate in Kamloops-Thompson-Cariboo during last fall’s federal election. Sundhu shared his own experiences, having “messed up” himself, the panel heard.
In 2006, while Sundhu was a provincial court judge, he was arrested in Vancouver and spent a night in the drunk tank. He later stepped down from the bench and stopped drinking.
In his letter, Sundhu called the applicant’s alcohol and marijuana use “problematic” and “not a good idea.”
The panel said the applicant can re-apply in 2017.
