A year-old Burnaby man should be sentenced to nine years in prison for sex crimes he committed against a girl who was just 12 years old when they first met through an online "furry" community five years ago, according to the Crown prosecutor in the case. Adam Woolacott was in Vancouver provincial court last week for sentencing after pleading guilty to five charges in September. Woolacott had met his victim, identified in court only by her initials because of a publication ban, through a furries-oriented Facebook group in December when 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 because she liked the furry grey and purple bunny head in his profile photo, according to the facts. Crown prosecutor Jacinta Lawton said the messages quickly became sexual even though the girl told Woolacott she was The messages ultimately led to 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 Despite Woolacott telling the girl to delete their messages, more than 2, were preserved from the last six months of their relationship alone.
Woolacott to get sex from this child," Lawton said of the large volume of messages. Messages after the encounters graphically indicate Woolacott's awareness of the girl's age. The messages show Woolacott knew the sex had scared and hurt the girl and that she was emotionally and financially vulnerable, according to Lawton. She said Woolacott exploited those vulnerabilities, telling the girl he loved her, that she was beautiful and offering her money for explicit photos and sex acts, including offering her more money for sex without a condom.
Lawton said Woolacott's moral blameworthiness was "extremely high," that his actions were planned and deliberate and that he knew what he was doing was illegal. In a victim impact statement, the nowyear-old victim told the court Woolacott "took away her childhood" and sent her down a self-destructive path of toxic relationships and substance abuse.
