Michael Debruyn pleaded no contest Thursday in the case of the
25-year-old Canadian Armed Forces member who drove his motorcycle
from Saskatchewan to Gilroy allegedly with hopes of having sex with
a 17-year-old girl.
Michael Debruyn pleaded no contest Thursday in the case of the 25-year-old Canadian Armed Forces member who drove his motorcycle from Saskatchewan to Gilroy allegedly with hopes of having sex with a 17-year-old girl.
His no contest plea was to one felony count of contacting and communication, and attempting to contact and communicate with a minor with knowledge and intent to commit a specified crime and one felony count of distributing or exhibiting harmful matter to a minor.
He entered another no contest plea to a misdemeanor charge of possessing and controlling matter depicting person under age 18 engaging in or simulating sexual conduct.
DeBruyn, of Wallaceburg, Ontario, was originally 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 before he pleaded no contest Thursday as part of a deal with the D.A.’s office.
On leave from military duty, DeBruyn showed up in town April 10 at a Gilroy High School event and tried to contact the girl, who he met when she was 13 online, police said. However, their contact wasn’t continuous over the next four years and the initial contact wasn’t sexual in nature, police said. Only in the last few months of their online relationship did the two begin exchanging sexually graphic text messages, according to police.
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, who concluded through unspecified evidence that DeBruyn had come to Gilroy to have sex with the girl. They arrested him and also found him in possession of child pornography, police said.
