A sheriff told a Stirling paedophile “I’m prepared to make your life very difficult”.
Mark Pentith sent vile messages to undercover police, believing he was chatting to a 13-year-old girl.
During the course of the conversation he used the username “Luv A Te3n”.
Stirling Sheriff Court heard the 56-year-old had been struggling with prison life after being remanded in custody at his last appearance.
Defence solicitor Virgil Crawford said although he had previous convictions of a similar nature, there had been a break in his offending.
“This incident follows a period of low mood on his part.
“He found out by accident that his son had passed away and no one had told him.
“Shortly after, there was an adult female he was communicating with that turned out not to be who he thought.
“He seems to be in a period of low mood and unfortunately indulged in this behaviour.”
He added: “His period in custody has not been great for him due to the nature of the offence – he’s kept separate from other prisoners.”
Truthfulness questioned
Sheriff Paul Ralph questioned whether the offender had been truthful with social workers preparing pre-sentencing report.
He said: “I am prepared to make life difficult for you Mr Pentith.
“Not to play down the nature of his offence, I need to consider whether a custodial sentence is the only way to deal with you.
“I find there is an alternative.
“I do not accept some of what you said to the social worker as being accurate or true.
“You say you are not sexually attracted to teens but that clearly flies in the face of the conversation you had.”
He placed Pentith on the sex offenders register for five years.
In addition he was made the subject of a three-year supervision order – the maximum period available – with the condition he take part in the Moving Forward to Change programme for sexual offenders.
Pentith must also carry out 225 hours of unpaid work.
Internet restrictions imposed
Sheriff Ralph also imposed a number of strict conditions tightly controlling Pentith’s access to the internet.
He can only have one phone or computer, which must be registered with his supervisor, he cannot use other devices to access the internet and cannot install apps or use social media or chatrooms without permission.
He is banned from using encryption, private browsers or deleting his internet history.
Pentith had earlier pled guilty to attempting to communicate indecently with a child between February 2 and 19 last year.
The court heard he had contacted the decoy account called Maisie on social media chatline ChatIW.
In one message Pentith said to the undercover officer: “I don’t want to get in trouble lol? You’re underage?”
In another message, he asked what kinds of sexual experience she had and whether she had touched a male.
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