A former junior hockey goaltender who exchanged nude photos with a 13-year-old Kamloops girl on Snapchat and then threatened to show them to her family members has been handed a three-month jail term.
Connor Neurauter pleaded guilty to one count of sexual interference of a person under 16 and was sentenced in Kamloops provincial court on Thursday to 90 days behind bars. The 21-year-old’s time in jail won’t begin until May, allowing him to complete his spring semester at the University of Calgary.
Court heard Neurauter was 18 when he began a brief relationship with the young girl, whose identity is protected by a court-ordered publication ban.
The two met in person a handful of times during the summer of 2015 and engaged in sexual contact but never had intercourse. The 13-year-old girl told police on one occasion Neurauter placed his hands around her neck and choked her before giving her a bra as a gift.
Following those meetings, court heard, the two began exchanging nude photos.
Neurauter threatened to share the girl’s photos with her family if she did not keep their relationship a secret.
Contact between the two continued via text message and Snapchat into late 2015.
At that point, she sought help from a 14-year-old friend who began sending nude photos to Neurauter in early 2016 in hopes of distracting him, court heard.
The 14-year-old girl eventually told her mother about the situation and police became involved.
Neurauter was arrested on March 30, 2016. He was later released on conditions, but police seized his phone, which contained nude photos of both teenagers and text messages between him and the girls.
Through tears and with her mother’s arm around her back, the 13-year-old girl read a victim-impact statement in court.
“I’ve been depressed on and off since the offence happened,” she said.
“Riding the school bus was hard because I could always smell what I thought he smelled like. I saw his car, or what I thought was his car, everywhere. I was very scared because he knew where I lived and knew where my room was.”
Neurauter, who is from Kamloops, did not address the court. Now studying science in Calgary, he had no previous criminal record.
In addition to the jail sentence, he will also be bound by a two-year probation term including conditions barring him from contacting either teen girl, visiting public parks and pools and being alone with anyone under 16.
Neurauter was also ordered to surrender a sample of his DNA to a national criminal database and must register as a sex offender for 10 years.
His time behind bars will begin on May 4 at Kamloops Regional Correctional Centre.
Neurauter played parts of three seasons at various levels of junior hockey between 2013 and 2016, including a brief stint in the Kootenay International Junior Hockey League, a season with a team based in Sweden and a handful of games with clubs in Ontario and northern B.C.
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