Seven years in prison for luring two child victims

A Brandon man who lured two 12-year-old boys has been sentenced to seven years in prison.

“We cannot say this was out of character. We cannot say this is spontaneous behaviour. Mr. Shand was a predator,” Crown attorney Rich Lonstrup said during Johnathon Shand’s sentencing hearing in Brandon’s Court of King’s Bench on Thursday.

Shand, 24, pleaded guilty in November 2025 to three counts of child luring involving the two victims, along with single counts of sexual interference and making child sexual abuse material.

The Crown asked Justice Elliot Leven to sentence Shand to nine years in prison while his lawyer argued for a sentence in the five-year range.

Lonstrup detailed the offences, which occurred between July 2021 and October 2022.

Shand communicated with one of the 12-year-old boys to arrange ways they could “sneak out together” and at times would take the boy to his Brandon apartment, where sexual contact happened on three occasions, Lonstrup said.

When they were not together, Shand would “play games” with the boy over FaceTime and ask the boy to do “dares,” including getting him to strip down “either completely or to his underwear covering his private parts,” Lonstrup said.

Court heard Shand made child sexual abuse material with this victim, with the content including undressing, slapping and hugging.

Shand bought the other 12-year-old victim gifts and also encouraged the boy to perform “dares,” Lonstrup said.

He said this victim sent Shand shirtless photos, and on one occasion, Shand got the boy to pull his pants down to his ankles and run through the snow in his underwear.

“(The victim) said this made him palpably uncomfortable. He said the accused would frequently make him uncomfortable with sexual references,” the Crown said.

While the Crown had no chats or indication of luring sexual discussions with this victim, the accused admitted to communicating with the boy for the purpose of creating child sexual abuse material.

Lonstrup said it’s aggravating that there were two victims and Shand was assessed as a high risk to reoffend and an above-average risk to reoffend sexually.

While the sexual contact between the first victim was non-penetrative, Lonstrup said it’s aggravating it happened on three separate occasions.

“This accused knew what he was doing, and he demonstrated a clear effort to avoid detection and sneak around the victims’ parents,” Lonstrup said. “He knew parents would not let him do normally what he was trying to do.”

He read a series of text exchanges between Shand and the first victim, which Lonstrup described as discussing different ways to “get back at” the boy’s mother after what Lonstrup described as “parental roadblocks” getting in the way of seeing each other.

“(The mother’s) worst crime here is trying to be vigilant for her own son,” Lonstrup said. “The victim is manipulated into thinking his mother is his own worst enemy.”

He said this victim was also manipulated into thinking he had a loving relationship with Shand.

Lonstrup said Shand claimed he only knew what he was doing was wrong 50 per cent of the time and that his sexual attraction to minors began when he went off his medication. If that was the case, Lonstrup said he should have known to go back on his medication.

Defence lawyer Bob Harrison said the Crown’s recommended sentence was “oppressive and crushing” and the court needed to consider Shand’s age, guilty pleas, cognitive deficits and mental-health issues when deciding the appropriate sentence.”

Harrison said that while Shand’s guilty pleas didn’t come at the earliest opportunity, his client was scared when he heard how many years the Crown was seeking.

Despite this, he said Shand took responsibility for his actions, and witnesses didn’t need to testify in court.

He said Shand was only around 20 years old when the offences happened, “so he’s not an older, sophisticated person at all.”

Shand has been diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, ADHD, depression and anxiety, Harrison said, adding that he is back on his medication now.

Harrison said Shand has Gladue factors and witnessed violence between his parents, at which point he was taken into Child and Family Services care.

“It was difficult in school. He was bullied and called derogatory names … That hurts more than … somebody punching you,” he said, adding that Shand’s father described Shand as operating at the level of a 14-year-old.

Prior to being in custody, drugs and alcohol were an issue for Shand, and around the time of the offences, he was using crystal methamphetamine, Harrison said.

Shand apologized for his actions in court and said he wants to get the help he needs.

Leven gave Shand credit for his guilty pleas, which he said prevented two children from needing to testify. However, he said the seriousness of the efforts Shand put into planning the offences was “extremely problematic and worrisome.”

He described his decision of a seven-year prison sentence as a “compromise.”

Shand has spent the equivalent of 861 days in custody, leaving him with a remaining sentence of more than four and a half years.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com