#1Mar 22nd, 2013
One of Canada’s most notorious child molesters has been re-arrested once again, and fresh sex-related charges are pending.
Gordon Stuckless, who spent years in prison for offences committed while he worked at Maple Leaf Gardens, was to have appeared in court at Old City Hall Friday morning in connection with a new batch of charges laid in February.
Instead he was arrested at his home and taken to the downtown 52 Division police station, and his court date was put over.
Convicted in 1997 of multiple sex assaults on boys while he was an assistant equipment manager at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens from 1969 to 1988, Mr Stuckless, 64, was charged in February with six counts of indecent assault on a male, assault and possession of a weapon or imitation weapon.
Those charges stem from a string of alleged assaults on young boys during the 1970s.
Toronto police say two adult men stepped forward to allege that Mr. Stuckless sexually assaulted them several times, when they were aged 11 and 13. He was volunteering at a Toronto community centre and sports clubs at the time.
Police allege the assaults took place at those and other locations and have been urging anyone with additional information to come forward.
The newest charges, to be laid Friday, also arise from offences allegedly committed years ago, a police source said.
Details are to be announced later in the day.
Mr. Stuckless pleaded guilty at his 1997 trial to sexual abuse against 24 males ranging in age from 11 to 15, in a series of crimes encompassing more than 500 incidents.
He was initially sentenced to two years less a day in a provincial jail, but the sentence was appealed and extended to five years.
Mr. Stuckless was paroled from Kingston Penitentiary in 2001 after serving two-thirds of the five-year term.
His first sentence was widely criticized as being too lenient, and was said to have been instrumental in the suicide of one of his victims, Martin Kruze, who at age 34 jumped to his death off the Bloor Viaduct, just three days after it was imposed.
Mr. Kruze was the first victim to have stepped forward.
Two former Maple Leaf Gardens colleagues, usher John Paul Roby and equipment manager George Hannah, were also implicated in what the Crown described as a pedophile sex ring.
Mr. Roby was also convicted and died in a federal prison, but Mr. Hannah escaped prosecution, having died in 1984 before Mr. Kruze spoke up.
After Mr. Stuckless was rearrested in February, police said the new complainants had been too traumatized to speak up when he was first investigated and charged in the 1990s.
Globandfail
Gordon Stuckless, who spent years in prison for offences committed while he worked at Maple Leaf Gardens, was to have appeared in court at Old City Hall Friday morning in connection with a new batch of charges laid in February.
Instead he was arrested at his home and taken to the downtown 52 Division police station, and his court date was put over.
Convicted in 1997 of multiple sex assaults on boys while he was an assistant equipment manager at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens from 1969 to 1988, Mr Stuckless, 64, was charged in February with six counts of indecent assault on a male, assault and possession of a weapon or imitation weapon.
Those charges stem from a string of alleged assaults on young boys during the 1970s.
Toronto police say two adult men stepped forward to allege that Mr. Stuckless sexually assaulted them several times, when they were aged 11 and 13. He was volunteering at a Toronto community centre and sports clubs at the time.
Police allege the assaults took place at those and other locations and have been urging anyone with additional information to come forward.
The newest charges, to be laid Friday, also arise from offences allegedly committed years ago, a police source said.
Details are to be announced later in the day.
Mr. Stuckless pleaded guilty at his 1997 trial to sexual abuse against 24 males ranging in age from 11 to 15, in a series of crimes encompassing more than 500 incidents.
He was initially sentenced to two years less a day in a provincial jail, but the sentence was appealed and extended to five years.
Mr. Stuckless was paroled from Kingston Penitentiary in 2001 after serving two-thirds of the five-year term.
His first sentence was widely criticized as being too lenient, and was said to have been instrumental in the suicide of one of his victims, Martin Kruze, who at age 34 jumped to his death off the Bloor Viaduct, just three days after it was imposed.
Mr. Kruze was the first victim to have stepped forward.
Two former Maple Leaf Gardens colleagues, usher John Paul Roby and equipment manager George Hannah, were also implicated in what the Crown described as a pedophile sex ring.
Mr. Roby was also convicted and died in a federal prison, but Mr. Hannah escaped prosecution, having died in 1984 before Mr. Kruze spoke up.
After Mr. Stuckless was rearrested in February, police said the new complainants had been too traumatized to speak up when he was first investigated and charged in the 1990s.
Globandfail
