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Jason Sawyer, a 21-year-old former Carleton University student, sat outside Courtroom No. 12 on Thursday reading a book next to his mom, who was also reading a paperback. They had time to kill because court was running late. The tall and bearded Sawyer is a criminology student, but his 9 a.m. appointment in court had nothing to do with his studies.

Sawyer was there to plead guilty to a most vile crime — child porn. The disgraced student, wearing a black tuque, stood before Ontario Court Justice Matthew Webber and pleaded guilty to possession of child porn.

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Sawyer was one of six Ottawa men charged in late December when police across Ontario did a sweep and laid 551 charges in one month. It’s just the tip of the iceberg, police said at the time.

Sawyer admitted guilt right away and directed police to more images on his phone. In November 2018, Ottawa police raided his home and seized the student’s laptop and external hard drive. In all, police found 14,599 images of child-sex crimes and 2,296 videos.