High-risk pedophile returning to city

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

Saturday, May 05, 2007 - 08:00

Terri Saunders


Front Page - A convicted pedophile deemed a high risk to reoffend will be back in our community in a month.

James Lewis was denied early release at a parole board hearing in Lindsay, Ont. Thursday and will have to serve two-thirds of his sentence for indecently assaulting Jamie Marsolais in the early 1980s.

Lewis is set for release from jail June 11. Parole board members met with Lewis Thursday afternoon and determined the man has not responded positively to treatment.

"The frightening thing is that you tell the board the counselling and the medication have not stopped you from having the urges," the board members wrote in their decision. "The board is of the opinion that you present a risk and that you and society are much better off with you incarcerated."

Lewis was sentenced in February to six months less a day in jail, but under normal circumstances, convicted felons usually serve no more than two thirds of a sentence before being paroled. If Lewis is sent home on June 11 as planned, he will have served 118 days behind bars for sexually abusing Marsolais over a four-month period in the early 1980s. Marsolais, now 34 years old, was nine when the abuse occurred. He was at the parole hearing Thursday and said despite the time that's elapsed since the abuse, he's still fearful of being in his abuser's presence.

"The guy is half my size," Marsolais said, "and yet I still feel intimidated by him."

Marsolais said attending the hearing made him feel as if he were in a Hollywood movie. The room was small, he said - just 10 feet by 10 feet, not nearly big enough for his liking.

"There were two parole board members, James Lewis, myself and my caseworker," said Marsolais. "I had to sit six feet away from him the entire time."

Marsolais said the hearing lasted about an hour and a half and the board deliberated for about 30 minutes before reaching its decision. As the victim of the abuse, Marsolais was granted the opportunity to present an impact statement to the board.

"I basically talked about the affects of abuse, and the lasting conditions," said Marsolais. "I also gave them some recommendations on restrictions he should have once he's released."

When Lewis is sent back to Cornwall next month, he will be living with his brother and will be under strict conditions for at least a year and a half, the result of a three-year house arrest sentence he received in October 2005 after he pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography.

That sentence was suspended until he completes his jail term and will be reactivated upon his release.

Marsolais said while it was difficult to attend the hearing, it would be harder to stay away.

"I've got to be there for everything that happens," he said. "I don't want to ever look back and regret the fact that I wasn't there for every single aspect of this whole thing."

Marsolais said it bothers him that Lewis has never really shown any regret when it comes to his past actions, a sentiment not lost on the parole board.

"Although you say the words," the board members wrote, "the only remorse you feel is for yourself."

The board members expressed regret at the fact Lewis was sent to a jail and not a secure psychiatric facility.

The provincial government determines in which facilities inmates will serve their sentences.

"It was requested that you serve your sentence at SLVTC (St. Lawrence Valley Treatment Centre in Brockville) but for some reason that didn't happen, which is a shame," the board wrote. "It appears that there has been very little counselling at CECC (Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay) to assist you with your problems."

Marsolais himself returned to Cornwall Saturday after taking some time to visit with friends in the Toronto.

He said he worries about the children living in his community and how they will be affected by Lewis being sent back to the city where he will live with his brother in a house on Baldwin Avenue.

He will be subject to three years probation once his house arrest is complete and he will have to abide by a series of restrictions including not being allowed to attend public places where children under the age of 14 are known to gather.

"It scares me to hear that he still has urges and that he hasn't really responded to treatment," said Marsolais. "This guy is going to cause people some harm in his lifetime."

tsaunders@standard-freeholder.com