‘MrJetzTV’ Darrell Ackman sentenced to 15 years for child prostitution

WINNIPEG — A 46-year-old man found guilty of running a prostitution ring of underage girls and filming child pornography will be behind bars for a decade.

Darrell Ackman was handed his sentence Friday in front of a packed court room. He was arrested in 2012 and pleaded not guilty.

Ackman’s final sentence is 15 years, but with credit for time served he’ll spend ten years and eight months behind bars.

When reading the sentence to the courtroom, Justice Chris Martin said Ackman “has not shown any remorse” and has not “accepted any meaningful responsibility”.

The judge said Ackman had a ‘warped ego and sense of self importance.’

“The fact that he was then 41 and all of the victims were 18 years or younger does not demonstrate as Mr. Ackman would have it, that he was too carefree and trusting, but rather highlights that could care less about them or what they did,” the judge said while reading his decision aloud.

“He played fast and loose with these girls’ lives, and the escort ruse. Boiled right down, it was all simply all about him; his fun, his business, his money, his sexual desires, his need for notoriety.”

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Ackman sat quietly in the prisoner box appearing annoyed but lacked emotion throughout the nearly hour long sentencing.

“At the end of the day, Mr. Ackman is a middle aged man with no past criminal record, who for no obvious reason except money and vanity happily wallowed in the grimy underbelly of the sex-trade business with its oft built-in exploitation and sexual abuse,” the judge said.

In March, after more than a month of testimony, a jury took less than four hours to convict him of 14 charges.

Jurors convicted Ackman of:

• living on the avails of prostitution of a person under 18 (four counts);
• attempting to live on the avails of prostitution of a person under 18 (one count);
• living on the avails of prostitution (one count);
• sexual assault (three counts);
• invitation to sexual touching (one count);
• making child pornography (three counts); and
• possessing proceeds of crime (one count).

The charges were in relation to seven victims, the youngest of which was just 14.

Two of the underage girls have since died. Court heard police began monitoring Ackman’s activities after seeing videos he posted as Mr. JetzTV on YouTube and online classified ads.

A Winnipeg police detective involved in surveillance of Ackman previously said phone numbers in online escort ads led police to him.

On top of the sentence Ackman must also provide a sample of his DNA within 14 days and was handed down a lifetime prohibition on owning or possessing a firearm, explosives or weapon.

When he is eventually released Ackman will also be put on a sex offender registry and will have a ‘parks and playgrounds order’ placed on him.