Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Child porn charges dropped but coach faces other counts

Randy Downes’ trial for charges of secretly overseeing and recording nudity in a place is later this year
Randy Downes

Five counts of making and publishing child pornography have been discharged against former Coquitlam baseball and hockey coach Randy Downes. 

But the Coquitlam resident is still expected to go to trial later this year on four counts of secretly overseeing and recording nudity in a private place, according to documents filed in Port Coquitlam Provincial Court.

Downes, who has been involved in youth sports in the Tri-Cities for more than 30 years, was arrested in October 2016 following what the RCMP said was a six-month investigation. According to Mounties, the case began with a tip from the BC Integrated Child Exploitation Unit. Investigators said at the time of Downes’ arrest that they had collected and reviewed an “enormous volume of digital evidence.”

Downes has long been a fixture in the sports community in the Lower Mainland. 

In August 2015, he coached the Coquitlam-Port Moody Reds to a silver medal in the Canadian national peewee AAA under-13 baseball championships in Repentigny, Que.

gmckenna@tricitynews.com

@gmckennaTC