NANAIMO — Facing a likely conviction, an accused cut his losses by pleading guilty to a public child luring offence
A visibly distressed Lorne Earl Seifred, 63, pleaded guilty on Monday, March 30 at Nanaimo Law Courts to telecommunicating to lure a child under 16, reversing a prior not guilty plea and an imminently scheduled seven-day trial.
Seifred was duped in a videoed May 2024 ambush inside a busy Nanaimo department store by well-known self-proclaimed vigilante pedophile hunter Justin Payne.
The offender thought he was meeting up with a vulnerable young teenage boy but was instead greeted by a microphone-holding Payne, assisted by a cameraman.
Payne confronts Seifred at north Nanaimo’s Walmart on the evening of May 19, 2024. (Image Credit: Justin Payne)
A provincial court judge endorsed a recommended nine-month non-custodial sentence featuring a curfew, one year probation, and two years of stringent restrictions designed specifically for sex offenders.
Crown Counsel’s Suzanne Cassell outlined the facts of Seifred’s offending during an hour-long Monday afternoon sentencing hearing.
Payne, under the alias ‘Chris’ used a profile on the dating app Grindr, professing to be a 14-year-old boy, standing 5’0” and weighing 100 lbs.
Seifred initiated conversation with the decoy, with the pair quickly opting to shift to text messaging.
Shortly after, ‘Chris’ reiterated that he was 14-years-old.
“Yep, that’s okay,” Seifred responded.
The offender then asked Payne what he likes to do sexually and discussed meeting up to make out.
Seifred also suggested several sexual role-playing scenarios, including ‘young and old’ engagements.
The offender displayed signs of grooming his would-be victim, Cassell said.
“He mentioned that if the witness moved in with him, if he’d be okay sharing a bed. He described sexual acts in sharp detail, and they make arrangements to meet in person at Walmart in Nanaimo on the 19th of May,” Cassell told court.
Text messaging, voice and video calls over the course of three days, culminated in an evening in-person meeting.
The filmed interaction resulted in Seifred quickly leaving the store.
He returned, requesting Walmart staff phone police to assist him in getting away from Payne.
Cassell noted Seifred had no prior criminal record, had otherwise lived a prosocial life, was compliant on bail, and open to counselling and treatment.
Seifred suffered “significant collateral damage” due to the allegations levelled against him, Cassell told court, noting he lost his job, friends and home.
“There’s fairly significant non-judicial consequences as a result of this that I would submit will, to some degree, serve the sentencing principles of denunciation and deterrence,” Cassell said.
Payne’s bust received widespread attention on Payne’s publicly available Facebook page.
Cassell told court while Seifred’s messaging was highly graphic, explicit pictures were not exchanged.
Defence attorney James Arends said despite the matter poised for a lengthy provincial court trial, his client indicated in early March his intentions to plead guilty.
Arends took over the case from a different lawyer, which led to resolution discussions with the Crown’s Cassell.
Seifred’s lawyer revealed his client made a pair of lengthy voluntary statements to Nanaimo RCMP, while he also gave police his cell phone and laptop with passwords, saving police from applying for a warrant to seize the devices.
Arends said Seifred has since moved away from Nanaimo and will likely never return, declaring his client lives a “hermit-like existence” in a rural area, and virtually doesn’t go anywhere apart from commuting to and from work.
Having previously worked in the property management business, Seifred was promptly fired from his job overseeing a large Rock City Rd. rental complex.
“He’s just become a complete pariah in that industry, so not even getting interviews.”
Arends pointed to case law demonstrating clear reservations Canadian judges have for vigilante hunters like Payne, such as its dangerous nature, interfering with law enforcement, and the perception of public shaming overriding administering justice.
“It’s really an awful lot about publicity and very little about the issue of the actual criminal charge.” Arends said of Payne, pointing to an example of the 35-year-old rushing over to Seifred at Walmart and raising his voice.
“It really is an over-the-top public shaming,” Arends added.
Justin Payne’s vigilante justice efforts have been praised by many, but questioned by others. (Image Credit: Justin Payne)
Seifred won’t appear on the National Sex Offender Registry.
His nine-month conditional sentence order now in effect includes house arrest between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
Seifred’s hearing outlined how fortunate he was to avoid jail, since prior to 2023 telecommunicating to lure a child was an automatic jail sentence.
Judge Brian Harvey noted the law could be reversed to include a mandatory minimum jail sentence due to pending federal legislation.
“I hope you’ve learned a lot through this process and the shame that comes with that,” judge Harvey said, who acknowledged the severe losses sustained by Seifried.
The offender declined to comment both in court and to NanaimoNewsNOW.
Lorne Seifred leaving court en-route to report to Nanaimo Community Corrections following his sentencing hearing. (Image Credit: Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)
Other local convictions
Seifred’s case represents the third conviction in Nanaimo as a direct result of Payne’s controversial advocacy work, who disguises his voice as a child after making contact with men.
In 2022, Cory John Lloyd was sentenced after pleading guilty to one count of arranging to meet a child for a sexual offence.
A series of highly disturbing phone and Skye conversations between October 2018 and January 2019 culminated in Payne confronting a deflated Lloyd outside Woodgrove Centre on Jan. 20, 2019.
Lloyd received an 18-month non-custodial sentence, followed by 18-months’ probation and was assigned to the National Sex Offender Registry for 20 years.
The other local conviction due to Payne’s efforts occurred in 2018, featuring Raymond Dewell, who admitted to an undercover Payne that he had previously sexually abused two young girls.
The admission to Payne spawned a Nanaimo RCMP investigation, while Dewell agreed to meet up with Payne for a sexual encounter, who was posing as a 13-year-old girl.
Dewell was handed a two-year jail sentence, followed by two-and-a-half years’ probation, and was named to the National Sex Offender Registry for life.
Efforts by Payne and a growing number of other creep-catcher style advocates whose content tends to flourish on several online platforms has its fair share of supporters and detractors.
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