Was Baby Boy Bred to Have Sex With 'Dad'?
By Heather Bird
Originally published in the Toronto Sun, March 17, 2001
TORONTO — There is an accused child molester currently in our courts who police believe used a surrogate mother to breed his intended victim.
The 24-year-old Canadian citizen, who cannot be named under a publication ban, was released by a Toronto judge on $50,000 bail a few weeks ago while he awaits an extradition hearing. He is wanted by police in California on 12 sex-related charges involving a nine-year-old boy. (This second boy is the half-brother of the surrogate son.) In an added twist, the bail address listed on the extradition papers belongs to a foreign consulate in central Toronto, where he is apparently living with a close relative.
The bizarre case, which has attracted almost no attention on either side of the border, involves three different countries, surrogate motherhood, a celebrity lawyer and a constitutional challenge to our extradition laws.
And at its core are two little half-brothers. The youngest is a three-year-old who is now in the care of the CAS. The other is his nine-year-old sibling, who is with their biological mother in England.
According to sources, these are the allegations against this man: The story begins in London about five years ago when the man, then a financially well-off student, befriended a single mother with young children.
"He's a classic predator," says one source close to the case. "He met them through a church youth group and then showered them with expensive gifts."
Over time, he gained their trust. And somehow, sources say, he managed to convince the woman to bear him a child. While there is no evidence that any money was exchanged, for some reason the woman agreed to fly to California, where she was impregnated with donor sperm at a fertility clinic. The woman claims that during the pregnancy he warned her that if the unborn child turned out to be a girl, she would have to abort.
However, ultrasound proved the baby to be a healthy boy, who was then named after the accused man.
While it doesn't appear the child was formally adopted, the mother gave permission for him to travel with the man to Irvine, Calif., where he purchased a house last fall. Police later discovered that during that same time period, he was volunteering at a local daycare centre and had applied to become a foster parent.
It was around this time that the biological mother back in England reported a horrifying discovery. She told British authorities that she found a videotape of her trusted friend having violent sex with her nine-year-old son. The London police then got in touch with detectives in California.
However, when officers asked her to produce the tape, she told them that in her hysteria, she had destroyed the evidence.
Still, given the nature of the accusations, the Irvine police decided to investigate. Once inside the man's house with a search warrant, they allegedly discovered and seized a videotape much like the one already described. The amateur quality video is said to depict graphic sex acts between the man and the British boy. A computer hard drive was also taken that day but the information on it is highly encrypted and will require the work of specialists to crack the code.
The investigating officer, Det. Vic Ray, refused to comment on any of the above allegations. He did, however, confirm the information contained in a felony complaint warrant filed in a California courthouse. It details the allegations of the sex acts which include anal digital penetration and oral-anal copulation.
Ray did, however, have high praise for Toronto's fugitive squad, who moved quickly to make the arrest and have the three-year-old turned over to the CAS. The warrant was signed in California on Feb. 1 and by Feb. 13, the man had been taken into custody.
Police were relieved that examinations turned up no evidence that the little one had been sexually molested. However, police sources believe it was only a matter of time because they claim to have a statement from a "separate, credible" witness who will testify that the man allegedly told him a child is ready for sex any time after he turns three years old.
But that testimony, if it's ever heard, will be a long time coming. The man has hired renowned criminal lawyer Eddie Greenspan to represent him at his extradition hearing.
TWO PHASES
Extradition hearings here take place in two parts, according to department of justice lawyer Brad Reitz, who was involved with the case early on. The first is not unlike a preliminary hearing where a judge must determine if there is enough evidence to go to trial. This is followed by the ministerial phase where the question is posed: Should the minister of justice surrender this person? Decisions in either phase can be appealed right up to the Supreme Court.
Greenspan, who did not return repeated calls on this case, is said to be preparing a constitutional challenge to the Extradition Act, a legal move which could take years.
In the meantime, the man is living in a foreign consulate and walking around our streets. His next court appearance, likely one of many, is scheduled for March 26 at 361 University Ave. Police officers on both sides of the border are dismayed at the $50,000 bail which has been levied, considering that the man recently inherited some money. Had he been arrested in California, given the reported existence of the videotape, he would not be eligible to even post bond.
"I'll be amazed if we ever see (him back) in the United States," says one source. "If he loses, he'll be in the wind."
