A plea date has been set for a Sudbury man facing charges of accessing child pornography, possessing child pornography, bestiality and compelling the commission of bestiality.
James McGuire, 37, who is in custody, was set to have a judge and jury trial beginning on Jan. 8, but it was abruptly put over when he decided instead to plead guilty to the charges instead.
A new date was set for McGuire to plead, as his lawyer, George Fournier, was unavailable due to a family matter.
After a Feb. 6 appearance in assignment court, McGuire will now plead on March 25 in Superior court.
McGuire was charged on March 27, 2021 as part of an “extensive” 13-month investigation by the Greater Sudbury Police Internet Child Exploitation Unit.
The investigation resulted in similar charges against three other people, including Raymond Stargratt, who last month was sentenced to 20 months in a correctional treatment centre after pleading guilty to charges.
At the time of the investigation, Stargratt was charged with four counts of possessing child sexual abuse material and three counts of accessing child sexual abuse material. Stargratt pleaded guilty to one count of each.
