Man who viewed child abuse images in B.C. café sentenced to jail

A Richmond, B.C., man has been sentenced to more than 17 months in jail after pleading guilty to possessing child abuse images following a multi-year police investigation.

Robert Grant Wilson, who was arrested multiple times between 2021 and 2025, was sentenced last month after investigators found thousands of images and videos on his electronic devices, according to authorities.

Court records show Wilson, born in 1953, pleaded guilty to two counts of possessing child sexual abuse and exploitation material on separate dates, first in August 2025 and again in February of this year.

Mounties began investigating Wilson in June 2021, when patrons at a Richmond café saw him looking at illegal images on an electronic device, the Richmond RCMP said in a news release Tuesday.

Police attended the business and arrested Wilson, seizing the device and eventually turning the investigation over to the department’s special victims unit.

Wilson was arrested again in August 2024, when a search of a seized cellphone and laptop turned up thousands of illicit images of children, the release said.

As a result of the investigation, further charges were recommended and Wilson was arrested on an outstanding warrant in August 2025, when another cellphone was found in his possession and seized.

That phone “was found to contain a new collection of thousands of images and videos of child sexual abuse and exploitation material,” police said in the release.

Wilson was arrested again in October 2025 and held in custody pending court proceedings. He was sentenced to 300 days in jail—less 188 days for time already served in custody—on the first charge, and 14 months less a day in jail on the second charge, for a total sentence of roughly 17 and a half months.

“This investigation reflects the commitment of our officers to protecting vulnerable persons and holding offenders accountable,” said Insp. Ed Yoshiyama of the Richmond RCMP in a statement.

“The conclusion of this case demonstrates the importance of coordinated investigative work and the persistence of our officers in pursuing complex digital evidence.”

Upon his release, Wilson will serve a three-year probation order and will remain on the National Sex Offender Registry for 20 years.