Track and field coach who had sex with underage student and possessed child porn faces 21 months in prison

A resident of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, will face less than two years in prison despite possessing child pornography, sending sexually explicit materials to a minor, and pleading guilty to sexual exploitation.

Richmond News reports that Steven Clarke, 31, met his victim in 2021 while working as an education assistant and track and field coach at St. Thomas Aquinas secondary school in North Vancouver, Canada. While the victim's age is not given, the school in question is a high school.

Clarke told the victim he had romantic feelings for her; then they exchanged numbers, only for him to ask the young girl for photos of herself. The girl sent Clarke around 50 photos, some semi-clothed and others nude, according to the report.

The man, a legal resident of the United States, sent photos of his erect penis in return, along with a video of him having sex with another woman.

The Crown prosecutor said that some of the photos in his possession "constitute child pornography."

Clarke also drove the girl to his apartment for sex, even giving her a Plan B / "morning after pill" at school. He would also meet his victim in secluded spots on school grounds to kiss and grope the girl.

When parents found the child's nude images on her devices, the girl and the adult man ceased contact.

Courts heard that Clarke spent just one night in jail before being released and subsequently pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation in early 2023. In Canada, sexual exploitation carries a sentence between 90 days and a maximum of two years.

Excerpts of text messages between the two were read out in court. One of the victim's read, “… didn’t even know you for that long but you were always on my mind."

Clarke responded, “Like I said, I love that you’re in love with me. Never stop being truly and madly in love with me. And I will always take care of you my future wife and mother of my kids.”

“I’m telling you when I read how much you care and admire what we have, it makes me so hard,” Clarke also wrote.

The prosecution and defense both say that an appropriate sentence for the man would be 21 months in jail followed by three years’ probation.

Friends and family of the accused submitted letters to the court in support of his character; however, the victim's father does not believe the man deserves a second chance.

“[Clarke], at this point, has not demonstrated that he deserves a second chance,” he said.

The victim said to the court, “At the time, I didn’t understand that I wasn’t old enough, healthy enough, or mature enough to appreciate that I’d been used, exploited, and raped.”

“And I didn’t understand that it wasn’t normal, or healthy, for a grown man to have a relationship with a teenage girl. I naively thought that maybe somehow I was different, that I was special," she added

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