Judge puts CFS actions on trial

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This article was published 24/09/2015 (3829 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A senior Manitoba judge has taken the rare step of publicly calling out Child and Family Services — and suggesting a sweeping investigation — for its handling of a career criminal-turned child sex predator.

The 33-year-old accused was sentenced Wednesday to 13 years in prison for a shocking series of attacks on four boys, which included photographing and videotaping some of the abuse and broadcasting it online to other pedophiles. He can’t be named to protect the identity of the victims.

One of the targets was a teenage boy who was put in his care in 2011, with the blessing of CFS, when the boy’s mother said she was unable to deal with problems they were having at home. She turned to the accused, who was the son of her good friend, and thought he might be able to help mentor her child.

This arrangement opened the door to a litany of sex crimes that Judge Murray Thompson says could have been prevented.

“Child and Family Services involvement in sanctioning and approving the private placement of a teenage boy with a single adult male raises question and serious concerns that they did not follow proper protocol,” Thompson said Wednesday in reading his decision.

“It is clear that no criminal record check was performed before the agency agreed to the mother’s request. A simple background check would have revealed the accused had a three-page criminal record spanning 15 years for violent offences including armed robbery, had just been released from jail, had a history of substance abuse and was not a suitable candidate to parent this child.”

Crown attorney Debbie Buors told court concerns were raised by family members as early as January 2012 that the accused and the teen were in a “possible inappropriate living arrangement and relationship.” Police also expressed concerns to CFS in 2012 regarding the man’s previous criminal history. As well, police had launched a child sexual-assault investigation around that time, although it ultimately didn’t result in charges.

“CFS promised to follow up with these child-protection concerns but failed to do so. Even the accused expressed astonishment at the blind trust placed on him by CFS, (telling a probation officer) ‘I don’t know how the hell it happened,’ ” Thompson said Wednesday. “This matter needs to be fully investigated to determine what happened and put measures in place to ensure the agency does not place vulnerable children with clearly inappropriate caregivers.”

In addition to his unofficial “foster” son, the other victims included the man’s nephew and the two young sons of his former girlfriend.

“It is incomprehensible how someone could find gratification in such sexual abuse of children,” Thompson said in rejecting the man’s bid for a more lenient sentence of just eight years.

All of these crimes came to light in 2013 when the accused was behind bars as a result of several criminal convictions of a non-sexual nature. While locked up, he wrote a series of explicit love letters to the teen foster son, who had returned to living with his mother.

The mother read some of the letters, which stated how the man had been carrying on a sexual relationship with her now 17-year-old son for nearly two years.

“Love has no limits,” the accused wrote as he outlined several graphic details of their sexual past.

The woman contacted CFS, which notified police. An investigation began, which included a search of the man’s computer.

The accused had stored explicit nude photos of the foster son online and also had similar photos and videos of him abusing his ex-girlfriend’s two boys, aged five and eight, in 2009. These included what appeared to be the live-streaming child-abuse shows he was doing.

‘Child and Family Services involvement in sanctioning and approving the private placement of a teenage boy with a single adult male raises question and serious concerns that they did not follow proper protocol’

— Chief Judge Murray Thompson

The accused’s sister then came forward to police and said her son reported being abused by his uncle years earlier, between the ages of about 11 and 13. He described being “conflicted” and not wanting to get his uncle in trouble.

The boy’s mother read her victim-impact statement in court, telling her brother how he destroyed her son and their family.

“I’ve been dealing with heavy-hearted feelings that I somehow failed my child. The feeling of betrayal sweeps over me,” she said.

The Crown also read an impact statement from the mother of the two young boys the accused videotaped himself abusing in 2009.

Both are in regular therapy and counselling and continue to suffer ongoing emotional distress, court was told.

“I hate you for what you did to my boys. I will never forgive you,” she wrote.

The teen foster son doesn’t view himself as a victim and wishes to continue a relationship with the accused, court was told.

The accused feels the same, telling a probation officer there’s nothing wrong with what he did to the boy.

www.mikeoncrime.com