The case of a 24-year-old member of the Canadian Armed Forces
who drove his motorcycle from Saskatchewan to Gilroy in hopes of
having sex with a 17-year-old girl was postponed for a week.
The case of a 24-year-old member of the Canadian Armed Forces who drove his motorcycle from Saskatchewan to Gilroy in hopes of having sex with a 17-year-old girl was postponed for a week.
Michael DeBruyn, of Wallaceburg, Ontario, was charged with employing, persuading or inducing a minor’s involvement in modeling, posing or performing sexual conduct, possession of child pornography, contacting and communicating with a minor with intent to commit a crime, and distributing harmful matter to a minor. He faces a maximum sentence of five years and eight months in prison, according to DA spokeswoman Amy Cornell.
DeBruyn is currently in police custody on $100,000 bail.
On leave from military duty, DeBruyn showed up in town April 10 at a Gilroy High School event and tried to contact the girl, police said. About 7:15 a.m. April 11, DeBruyn showed up at the girl’s house, but she was not home, Sgt. Wes Stanford said. The parents then called police.
“The parents basically told him to leave,” said Sgt. Wes Stanford. “When he didn’t leave, they called us.”
DeBruyn and the girl met when the girl was 13 on an online social networking Web site, but their contact wasn’t continuous over the next four years, Stanford said. The initial contact wasn’t sexual in nature, he said. Only in the last few months did the two begin exchanging sexually graphic text messages, according to police. DeBruyn also started talking about coming to visit, Stanford said.
“She really didn’t believe him,” Stanford said. “Then he showed up and that changed everything. It was more than she had bargained for.”
Police concluded through unspecified evidence that DeBruyn had come to Gilroy to have sex with the girl and arrested him. DeBruyn was also in possession of child pornography, police said.
DeBruyn is scheduled to appear in court 1:30 p.m. April 27 in Department 105 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill for a plea hearing.
