A convicted child sex offender who lived most of his life in Aldergrove will spend another year and two months behind bars after he was caught with child sexual abuse images on his phones.
In the summer of 2023, Kelly Glen Isbister pleaded guilty to one count of possession child pornography, and one count of breaching a recognizance order.
After a lengthy and frequently-delayed sentencing process, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Murray Blok passed sentence on Isbister on Sept. 13 in New Westminster Provincial Court.
The charges go back to 2019, when a tip from the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) in the United States was sent to the B.C. Integrated Child Exploitation Unit (BC ICE). Child sex abuse images had been detected moving between social media accounts belonging to Isbister.
Police from BC ICE, the Vancouver Police Department, and the 91原创 RCMP worked together and Isbister was arrested and his phone seized on Dec. 19, 2019.
Once police had accessed the phone, Isbister was arrested again in the summer of 2020 鈥� he had a new phone and more sex abuse images were found on that device.
Isbister faced a number of charges, and pleaded guilty to two of them on what was to have been the first day of his trial last year.
Having spent 246 days in pre-trial custody in between periods of strict bail, Isbister was credited for just over a year of incarceration.
Blok then sentenced him to a total of 27 months in prison, which leaves him with one year and just under three months left to serve.
Isbister's sentence reflects the fact that he has previously served a four year sentence after being convicted of sexual touching in 2014.
He victimized three boys, each 14 at the time of the attacks, plying them with alcohol, drugs, and cash before coercing them into sexual activity. He photographed at least two of the incidents.
Isbister's lawyers described a client from a background of physical abuse and alcoholism. Currently 52, he has essentially not held a job since he was 24 years old, and has been an alcoholic most of his adult life.
In Blok's sentencing ruling he noted that up to the date of the sentencing hearing last spring, Isbister had done nothing to look for employment or to engage in his Indigenous culture 鈥� his paternal grandfather is M茅tis 鈥� "which is what he said he would do if released from custody."
He does not appear to have any social supports and, despite being arrested in 2019, assembled a new collection of child sexual abuse material by the time he was arrested again six months later.
"He has shown no insight into his offending or the harm caused by it, and he has shown no remorse," Blok wrote.
He has also been resistant to taking part in counselling sessions and treatment programs for sex offenders.
Isbister's lawyers said he had two months of work through a temp agency in 2020, and had been attending a six-month employment preparation program. The had asked for Isbister to receive a year of prison time 鈥� to be considered served via his pre-trial imprisonment 鈥� and 18 months to be served in the community, followed by two years of probation.
Although originally from Aldergrove, Isbister has spent much of the last few years since his most recent arrests living in single-room occupancy hotels in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside when not incarcerated.
In addition to his jail time, Isbister will have to comply with the Sex Offender Information Registration Act (SOIRA) for at least 20 years.
