(Longueuil) A cyber predator who was willing to offer hundreds of dollars to teenagers to “grope” and “fuck” them was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison. Despite his “very real” risk of reoffending, Marc-André Landry received a lenient sentence because of his willingness to get his life back on track.
The 35-year-old Longueuil resident pleaded guilty last fall to charges of computer luring of minors and obtaining sexual services for consideration.
Marc-André Landry had three victims in this case. The cyberpredator targeted young teenagers on social networks, including Snapchat. Under the profile “Topgnreux”, he asked a 14-year-old boy if he was gay. He then asked him about his favorite sexual position.
[La victime] informs him that he is 14 years old, but the accused continues to offer him sexual intercourse, even offering to travel to meet him.
extract from the summary of facts filed before the court
Marc-André Landry wrote to his second victim under the Facebook profile of “Ti-Marc Landry”. He got straight to the point with the teenager. “Hi, how are you? Would you like to make some easy and discreet $$$?” wrote the cyberpredator. The 16-year-old got into the game and pretended to be a 12-year-old.
The cyber predator offered him drugs and between $500 and $700 to have sex with him. As with the other victim, Landry said he knew other men willing to pay for such sexual relations. The young man ended up filing a complaint.
Same scenario for the third victim. Marc-André Landry asks the young man if he would let himself be “discreetly groped for $300 at the hotel”. He is even ready to raise the bid to $400-500 if he can “fuck” the teenager, or even to $500-600 if the teenager is the “least dirty”. Landry says he is looking for a young man to “spoil” during his vacation.
Investigators discovered other similar conversations with unidentified minor victims in the accused’s cell phone.
According to the defendant, he communicated with the victims while he was “buzzed.” At the time, his use of crystal meth gave him increased sexual urges, he said.
Change of attitude
To justify this two-year prison sentence, his lawyer, Me Amélie d’Assylvas insisted on her client’s recovery: he no longer takes hard drugs, he is involved with Narcotics Anonymous and he is being followed by a sexologist. He also wants to follow a specialized sex program in detention.
According to an expert report, Marc-André Landry does not acknowledge his attraction to minors. However, the offender seems to have changed his mind since the report was prepared. “I had a lot of contact with sex in the past,” he explained to the judge.
It is also because of this change in attitude, and the accused’s desire to undergo therapy, that Crown prosecutor Me Julie Sidara-Charron agreed to this suggestion of a sentence of two years, less one day of detention, accompanied by three years of probation.
In weighing the pros and cons, Judge Marcoux followed the parties’ joint recommendation. He warned the offender: “Get this out of your life. It’s just trouble for you and for society. I hope you’ve moved on.”
Marc-André Landry will be registered in the Sex Offender Registry for 20 years.