Church pastor convicted of possession of ‘depraved’ child porn loses appeal

John Vermeer's appeal of his 14-month sentence failed but he has been unapologetic

(This was an op-ed from April 3, 2023 that was more about the challenges in the practice of journalism with few resources than it was about the subject, former Main Street Church executive pastor Johannes "John" Vermeer who is a fan of the "most offensive, harmful and depraved forms of abuse on children," as Judge Andrea Ormiston put it in sentencing the pedophile. Incidentally, it's lucky Vermeer was even charged because the head of the IT firm Empyrion that found the child porn didn't want police involved. A former staff member told me that Steve Czeck "had a duty to put it to God first" - PJH, Jan. 7, 2025)

In March 2023, I wrote about the 2014 homicide case against Aaron Douglas, the charges for which were quietly dropped in 2019 after a jury couldn’t come to a decision and a retrial was cancelled.

My main point in that column was that it’s not always easy for journalists, or anyone, to keep track of the comings and goings in our criminal justice system.

We do our best. But here is another way I messed up, so to speak.

A year-and-a-half ago I wrote the final story on Main Street Church’s executive pastor Johannes "John" Vermeer who was sentenced to 14 months jail followed by 18 months probation for accessing and possessing child pornography on at least one church computer.

“Main Street Church’s former executive pastor is off to jail after being sentenced for accessing and possessing child pornography,” was the lede of that story.

Vermeer was sentenced on Oct. 13, 2021, which means his full jail sentence would have been served by Dec. 13, 2022. Statutory release, two thirds of a sentence, would have seen Vermeer serving the rest of his jail term in the community after nine months and 10 days, so he would have actually been out close to July 23, 2022.

So I wasn’t surprised at all to hear from a Main Street Church attendee who knew Vermeer that he was seen out in the community.

“He would have served his sentence by now,” I explained. But I was wrong. I was also (sort of) wrong with that 2021 news story after he was sentenced by stating the pastor was “off to jail.”

He certainly would have been taken to jail after being sentenced, but what I didn’t know, and shouldn’t have surprised me, is he planned to appeal. He was then released on bail pending the appeal hearing, which is standard practice.

So if you saw the then 64-year-old Vermeer out and about, no, he did not admit his guilt despite being found guilty in provincial court by Judge Andrea Ormiston, nor did he serve his sentence.

(Note: This edited op-ed was written in spring 2023 and Vermeer still has not admitted his guilt. I also saw him out in the community myself recently. Not only did he not leave town, he still drives the same white Mercedes, photo below - PJH, Jan. 7, 2025)

On April 3, 2023, Vermeer's appeal was heard at the B.C. Court of Appeal (BCCA) in Vancouver. The BCCA hearing list stated: “The appellant appeals from conviction on child pornography offences on the ground that digital evidence was improperly adduced.”

“Adduced”? Not a common English word, but in part it means the process of putting forth evidence to the court for consideration. What exactly Vermeer’s lawyers argued wasn’t put forth properly, I don't know, I didn't attend.

“Mr. Vermeer possessed some of the most offensive, harmful and depraved forms of abuse on children,” Judge Ormistion said after conviction. She added that the fact that the victims were unknown to Vermeer, does not lessen that suffering.

Crown counsel Teresa Mitchell-Banks argued that there is no practical difference between offenders like Vermeer who access and view child pornography and the pedophiles and abusers who create the illegal images and videos.

“It is not an exaggeration to say that people who watch online child pornography are online pedophiles,” Mitchell-Banks said. “He is an online predator.”

An aggravating factor according to Judge Ormiston was that Vermeer appeared to have zero insight into his criminal behaviour or the reasons for it. The judge pointed to the letters of support from friends who were in complete denial saying that they “cannot accept that these offences occurred.”

But they did occur. Vermeer is a pedophile. He was convicted beyond a reasonable doubt and the man clearly has an “entrenched interest in child pornography” with files and folders on his computer with names consistent with child pornography dating back to 2006.

The former church pastor said nothing after the sentencing, now we know why.

In 2023, I suggested that if John Vermeer’s appeal was dismissed based on a rejection of whatever legal technicality his lawyer put forth and the conviction stood up, maybe the good Christian man would step forward and apologize and look to gain insight into his pedophilia and his destructive criminal behaviour.

Just kidding. Never gonna happen.

His appeal was dismissed in a decision published on May 18, 2023. His lawyers alleged that the "trial judge had failed to comply with the ‘best evidence’ rule as modified by section 31 of the Canada Evidence Act (CEA); relied on hearsay in the form of file titles suggestive of child pornography to infer that the files actually contained child pornography; and in the form of a menu or ‘interface’ to a ‘cleaner’ program to find it had been deployed by appellant to delete files when he became aware of investigation into his computer use."

In dismissing his last-ditch appeal unanimously, the three Justices found that the trial judge did not fail to comply with the best evidence rule. The supposed hearsay regarding "file titles suggestive of child pornography" was ridiculous since the computer experts and the judge saw the actual despicable child porn so the titles were accurate. As for the cleaner program, the point of it was to delete files and Vermeer tried to do use it to do exactly that.

Incidentally, it is lucky this case ever made it to trial. If Steve Czeck, who was and is the head of the IT company Empyrion Technologies that found the child porn had his way, Vermeer would have never been charged.

"You should have heard how people at Empyrion called you a liar regarding that child pornography case," a former employee told me recently.

"He felt that he should have discussed it with the pastor/head of church instead.... Steve Czeck could have killed any chance the prosecution had if he delayed it like he wanted. As sons of the church, he had a duty to put it to God first."

Just like Jesus would have wanted, I guess.

-30-

Paul J. Henderson
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