Tom Wysom, 55, of Ottawa, has been arrested for the possession and distribution of child pornography. When Wysom was arrested, he was found to be in the possession of over 60,000 images deemed to be child pornography, as well as at least 1,625 videos. His IMDB page has him credited as an animator and character builder for 26 episodes of My Little Pony and 23 episodes of Littlest Pet Shop between 2012 an 2015. Wysom pleaded guilty to all charges against him.

Wysom, who was born and raised in Wales, worked there as a postal clerk until 1992 when he moved to Canada. He spent parts of four years hitchhiking across the country before being granted permanent resident status in 1996. His resume states that he studied both fine art and commercial animation, and his work was once exhibited at Ottawa’s Cube Gallery. There was no mention of any degrees attained.

Wysom told the court that he had been watching child pornography as an offshoot of his addiction to adult pornography. His reasoning, as reported by the Ottawa Citizen, was that he had consumed so much “normal” pornography dating back to about a decade ago, that it no longer stimulated him, to the point that he had become desensitized to it and “needed something more.” He then went on to explain that it had been helping him deal with his clinical depression and other unspecified medical issues.

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Forensic psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Gray performed an assessment of Wysom that concluded he has a “pedophilic disorder.” As the court report shows, Wysom told Dr. Gray that he was dealing with untreated stress issues, and that child pornography was helping him deal with it. The presiding judge, Justice David Berg, was reported to have appeared agitated by Wysom’s explanations, which are hosted in part at Horse News.

“I think that you are still quite far from comprehending that the problem is you and only you. I think that you are still trying to rationalize your behaviour to yourself and to others in the face of society’s reaction to what you have done.”

Justice Berg decided that Wysom had to have a sentence of at least two years in prison to both pay for his crimes and serve as a deterrent to others like him, despite Dr. Gray stating that he felt Wysom was a low risk to have sexual contact with children or re-offend. Wysom was apprehended as a result of the Ottawa Police Service’s Internet Child Exploitation Unit (ICEU) conducting an examination of a P2P network that child pornography was known to pass through. The unit traced his location and uncovered his identity by identifying the real IP address.