A Summerland man found guilty of luring a child online was sentenced to one year imprisonment through house arrest, with one year probation to follow.

Judge Gale Sinclair said Tuesday at the Penticton Law Courts  he decided on the conditional sentence order, because he didn’t feel Stephen Hughes, 36 should go to real jail for the offence.

“I don’t see him being involved in any criminal activity again,” he said. “There were problems in his marriage, depression, self medication with marijuana and then crash.”

Hughes will have to abide by several conditions including not attending public parks or swimming pools where persons under age 16 are expected to attend, not communicating via the Internet for any means and attending assessment counselling.

Hughes was arrested June 17, 2011, by members of the RCMP Integrated Child Exploitation Unit. At the time of his arrest, he was a casual education assistant with School District 67.

He faced a charge of communicating via computer to lure a child under age 16, based on his communication with an undercover RCMP constable, using the name Gorgeous Vicki 1998 in a chat room.

Sinclair said at the end of the trial that he believed Hughes was someone who got addicted to online chatting ad crossed the line.

On Tuesday, he encouraged him to be out and about doing healthy and productive  things, stating he was confident the courts would not see Hughes any more.

With files from Deborah Pfeiffer Castanet