A warrant has been issued for a 41-year-old Burnaby man who didn't show up to be sentenced for sex crimes against a girl he met through an online "furry" community five years ago when she was 12 years old.
Adam Woolacott was scheduled to appear in Vancouver Provincial Court Friday afternoon to learn his fate after pleading guilty in September to five charges: three counts of sexual interference of a person under 16, one count of arranging a sexual offence against a child and one count of making sexually explicit material available to someone under 16.
Woolacott pleaded guilty after an application to exclude critical evidence, including thousands of text messages as well as security video, was dismissed.
At a hearing in January, Crown prosecutor Jacinta Lawton said Woolacott should be sentenced to between eight and nine years in prison for his crimes.
Defence lawyer Allen Goldin argued a sentence between four and five years was more appropriate.
B.C. Provincial Court Judge Donna Senniw was ready to hand down her decision Friday, but Woolacott, who has been out on bail during the court process, wasn’t there.
Goldin told Senniw Woolacott’s mother was at the courthouse, but he hadn’t heard from his client.
"He's usually been here on time, so I don't know what's going on," Goldin said.
Senniw stood down for more than an hour, saying "I'm sure he's well aware of the date."
In the end, Lawton applied for a warrant.
She told Senniw police had been contacted and planned to do a wellness check on Woolacott's mother's residence in Burnaby where Woolacott has lived on and off, according to Goldin, but the results of the check weren't yet available.
Senniw issued the warrant, and the sentencing was adjourned.
Online contact
Woolacott met his victim, identified in court only by her initials because of a publication ban, through a furries-oriented Facebook group in December 2019 when she was 12 and he was 35, according to agreed facts presented in court.
Furries are people who create anthropomorphized animal characters or "fursonas," with whom they identify.
Some furries wear costumes or "fursuits" or paraphernalia such as animal ears or tails, or represent themselves as anthropomorphic animals in online communities.
The girl direct-messaged Woolacott in December 2019 because she liked the furry grey and purple bunny head in his profile photo, according to the facts.
The messages quickly became sexual, however, even though the girl told Woolacott she was 12.
Woolacott and the girl ultimately had five in-person encounters, three at Burnaby parks, one at the North Burnaby townhouse Woolacott shared with his mother and one at his hotel room during the VancouFur convention in Surrey in March 2022.
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