A former Willow River man declared a dangerous offender in 2000 after he was convicted of making child pornography will remain behind bars.
In a Dec. 15 decision, the Parole Board of Canada denied James Darren Bennett, 56, both full and day parole.
Although encouraged that he has made some gains in sex offender treatment and appeared highly motivated to participate, the board found he continues to show a moderate to high risk to reoffend and has not addressed the depth of his deviancy.
Bennett, who was transferred to a minimum security institution in 2013, was declared a dangerous offender in February 2000 after pleading guilty in the spring of 1999 to key charges in the Willow River child pornography case from the late 1990s.
Charges included five counts of sexual assault, three counts of overcoming resistance to the commission of an offence by administering a stupefying or overpowering drug and three counts of printing or publishing child pornography.
A dangerous offender designation carries an indeterminate sentence.
Bennett's co-accused, wife Crystal Diane Henricks, 38, was convicted on eight counts and sentenced to 13 years in prison.
The term was later reduced to seven years on appeal and by 2004 she was living under supervision in an undisclosed community, after reaching statutory release.
Their victims were a three-year-old boy, a pair of 10-year-old girls and a 15-year-old girl.
The offenses were primarily in the Willow River home shared by Bennett and Henricks.
