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The panel also ruled it was aggravating that Hammermeister was “perilously close” to being in a position of trust by virtue of him being an army veteran acting as an Army Cadets volunteer.

“He was not merely an Internet stranger,” says the decision. “Hammermeister gained access to the child and preyed on her in what should be a safe place.”

The panel also noted the victim had her trust “shattered” and she suffered profound and adverse psychological trauma.

On Dec. 1, 2015, Hammermeister, 31, was sentenced to two years in prison, to be followed by three years of probation, after pleading guilty to sexual interference and two counts of Internet luring.

The provincial court judge gave Hammermeister one year for the sexual interference and one year consecutive for one of the luring charges; however, the appeal panel increased the sexual interference sentence to three years, resulting in a total sentence of four years. The probation order was set aside.

According to an agreed statement of facts, Hammermeister – who spent seven months as a soldier in Afghanistan in 2008-09 – met the teen in 2013 through the Army Cadets program. She was a cadet and he was a volunteer, although he was not directly involved in her training

Over several months, Hammermeister communicated with the teen via various text-messaging programs and many of the texts were sexually explicit and degrading and included increasing pressure for her to have sex with him.