Chilliwack – OCTOBER 13, 2021 UPDATE (With files from CP/CKNW/News1130) – Main Street Church’s former executive pastor , 62 year old John Vermeer was sentenced to 14 months in jail after his conviction for accessing and possessing child pornography.
Vermeer will also have 18 months probation. At the sentencing hearing on April 30, Vermeer’s lawyer Michael Klein agreed that a conditional sentence order was not available in this case and asked for a sentence in the range of eight to 10 months.
He is not permitted to be around parks, playgrounds, pools, theatres or anywhere were children under 16 might be.
He cannot do volunteer work or have employment that involves people under 16. He also cannot use any devices that access the internet if those devices have an ability to delete search history.
Crown was asking for 2 to five years. The charges go back to 2006. Vermeer has been placed on the Sexual Offender Registry for 10 years.
JANUARY 2020 UPDATE – John Vermeer, a disgraced pastor charged with obtaining and using child porn via his church computer, is back in court.
His trial began in July 2019 but has been through many delays. Computer file sharing technicalities have been cited as a major reason for delays.
The trail recommenced on Thursday and could last into May.
FVN and chillTV will continue to follow this story.
ORIGINAL STORY APRIL 2018 – A Chilliwack Pastor is facing two counts of possession of child pornography and two counts of accessing child pornography.
The charges stem from situations dating back to March 2015 and May 2010. 58 year old Johannes (John) Vermeer was arrested and sionce released back on March 29, but we are just learning about the actions.
RCMP Cpl. Mike Rail told Global, “The charges stemmed from the completion of a very technologically-based investigation conducted by Chilliwack RCMP GIST [General Investigations Support Team] and Serious Crime Unit (SCU) officers.”
Church goers at Main Street Church only found out about this, on Sunday and jaws dropped to the floor.
The Church management had been monitoring computer activity before a call to RCMP was made.
The BCMB BC Conference of Mennonite Brethren Churches have taken down all references of Vermeer from their website and are “praying for him.”
