It’s bad enough for a 21-year-old man to get caught luring under-18 girls to online chatrooms to set up sex acts with them, but it’s something else again for him to do it and film it secretly for Internet posting and trading. But that’s exactly what Simeon Boudreau pleaded guilty to doing January 12.
Using the handle Girl Lover and posing as a 17-year-old, Boudreau lured girls ages 13-15 to meet him and engage sex acts that he would videotape without their knowing about it. Boudreau was arrested in June, after Toronto police tipped off Quebec law enforcement to the Montreal CEGEP student’s activities.
Police tracked down two of the girls after his arrest and also uncovered images of children ages 12 months to 17 years on Boudreau’s computer, not to mention records Boudreau kept on his computer of over 600 online chats with girls as young as 11, according to Canadian news reports.
He pleaded guilty to possessing and making child porn, luring young girls for sex, sexual assault, and sexual touching of minors. Quebec Court Judge Serge Boisvert almost threw him behind bars after he pleaded.
"Before, he benefited from the presumption of innocence," Boisvert was quoted as saying. "The accused is no longer innocent. What I have before me is someone who sexually assaulted one, two, three victims and made child pornography, and you want me to leave him at liberty?"
But Boudreau was already free on strict bail and had not violated those conditions, defense attorney Alexandre Goyette told the court, including a strict 7-to-7 curfew, reporting to a law enforcement office once a week to sign a register, and a ban on his presence in cybercafes or near children.
Prosecutors said psychiatrists would examine Boudreau before his pre-sentencing hearing April 20, acknowledging the possibility that he might be diagnosed as a sexual deviant and thus give hints of a risk of recidivism.
