Fourteen victims. Teenage girls lured by modeling contracts. High school friends attracted by sexual “challenges.” Jean-Sébastien Béland, a repeat predator, sexually assaulted young girls for years while taking advantage of his aura as the boss of a modeling agency.
The trial of the 51-year-old from Trois-Rivières was due to open next Monday for a period of three months. But Jean-Sébastien Béland pleaded guilty Friday at the Montreal courthouse to around thirty counts. He faces a long prison sentence and possibly a long-term or dangerous offender label.
Jean-Sébastien Béland promised his victims an international career in modeling and obtaining important contracts. He made his prey feel beautiful and “special”. Then, under various pretexts, he led them to perform sexual gestures in exchange for money. But in the background, the victim retained hope of a career.
One of his modus operandi was to ask for “massages” from his victims, then to take advantage of their naivety or his influence to attack them. Another ploy was that of “challenges.” He then gave hundreds of dollars to the young girl after the sexual act. A way to make “easy money”, he said.
Dip your hand in oil and place it on a leaf. For Jean-Sébastien Béland, this represented “proof of consent”. This is what he asked to do to a 16-year-old victim, under his authority, who had just performed oral sex on him. Like so many others, he had recruited this young girl into his modeling agency.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE SPVM
Jean-Sébastien Béland
Another victim, also 16 years old, dreams of becoming a model. She takes part in auditions for the BModels agency. The boss, Jean-Sébastien Béland, boasts of having led several girls to break through internationally. He encourages the dreaming teenager to complete sexual “challenges”. She must then sign documents to “certify” that she accepts the challenges.
“The more you please me, the more I will please you. So ! »
This statement from Jean-Sébastien Béland sums up his relationship with the teenager, whom he nicknames “my bunny” and “my love”. When she lands a “big contract” modeling, she must complete more “challenges,” a euphemism for paid sexual services.
If a “massage” is worth $100 to the victim, other gestures, such as a masturbation session, are paid more by Béland. Sometimes he asks the victim to draw a note from a large box filled with bank notes.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Jean-Sébastien Béland at the Montreal courthouse on Friday
Another teenager had her dream shattered by Jean-Sébastien Béland. The 15-year-old girl catches the eye of the agency boss. He tells her he sees something “rare in her”. But to obtain international contracts, she must be more “cool” and “rebellious”. It was then that he attacked her for the first time.
To discuss the contract, Béland goes to a country row with the teenager. He tells her that he spent a significant amount of money on his career. Feeling forced to comply, she masturbates him, disgusted. The teenager then signed a modeling contract with him.
Such stories of broken dreams and assaulted teenagers are numerous in the summary of facts of around thirty pages filed in court.
Three high school friends among the victims
Jean-Sébastien Béland also took advantage of three friends from the same high school in Lanaudière. His first victim, met through a job offer on Kijiji, provided him with sexual services for two years. They often met after school, not far away. The teenager was still wearing her school uniform.
Jean-Sébastien Béland is manipulative: he promises the teenager to start a modeling agency with her. He invites her to a chalet and organizes a session with a professional photographer.
“He puts pressure on her to bring other friends in the form of “challenges”, which she does on several occasions,” summarizes the statement of facts. Two friends of the teenager will also fall into the claws of the predator.
Jean-Sébastien Béland was sentenced to 45 days in prison on weekends in 2010 for sexually exploiting a teenage girl. He has since been prohibited from being in a position of authority with minors. Despite this label as a sexual predator, he was able to continue his activities without problem.
The criminal managed to cover his tracks in numerous ways, notably by registering the name of a false director in the Business Register. The Press revealed in 2019 that Béland had money because he had won the Loto-Québec Gagnant à vie lottery.
Me Camille Boucher and Me Delphine Mauger represents the public prosecutor, while Me Julien Lspérance Hudon defends the accused. The case will return to court next March.