A Canadian man police said drove his motorcycle from
Saskatchewan to Gilroy in hopes of having sex with a 17-year-old
girl will wait to receive his sentence while county probation
reviews the case.
A Canadian man police said drove his motorcycle from Saskatchewan to Gilroy in hopes of having sex with a 17-year-old girl will wait to receive his sentence while county probation reviews the case.
Michael DeBruyn, 25, a member of the Canadian Armed Forces, pleaded no contest to one felony count of contacting and communicating, 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.
DeBruyn, of Wallaceburg, Ontario, also pleaded no contest to one misdemeanor charge of possessing or controlling matter depicting a person under 18 engaging in or simulating sexual conduct, which was reduced from a felony charge.
He was originally charged with two related additional felony counts and faced a maximum sentence of five years and eight months in prison, but pleaded no contest to three of his five charges as part of a negotiated deal with prosecutors, according to Amy Cornell, Santa Clara County District Attorney spokeswoman.
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, police said. The parents then called police.
DeBruyn and the girl met when the girl was 13 on an online social networking website, but their contact wasn’t continuous over the next four years, according to police. The initial contact wasn’t sexual in nature, and only in the past few months did the two begin exchanging sexually graphic text messages, police said.
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 at the time, police said.
DeBruyn will be sentenced 9 a.m. Sept. 20 in Department 110 of the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill. He could receive a maximum possible sentence of 16 months in prison.
