The case of a 25-year-old member of the Canadian Armed Forces
who allegedly drove his motorcycle from Saskatchewan to Gilroy with
hopes of having sex with a 17-year-old girl was postponed
Friday.
Morgan Hill Times
The case of a 25-year-old member of the Canadian Armed Forces who allegedly drove his motorcycle from Saskatchewan to Gilroy with hopes of having sex with a 17-year-old girl was postponed Friday.
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 Amy Cornell, Santa Clara District Attorney spokeswoman.
DeBruyn is being held without bail at the Main Jail in San Jose.
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.
DeBruyn is scheduled to appear in court 9 a.m. Friday in Department 110 at the South County Courthouse in Morgan Hill for a plea hearing.
