Trapped in search of sexual services from a minor

After challenging the SPVQ’s investigation methods, then the minimum sentence of one year in prison for luring a minor, two sex offenders trapped by the police finally went to prison.

In February 2019, Raphaël Beaumont and Dave Hamel led “an ordinary life” in appearance.

The first was a teacher at Les Sentiers secondary school while the other “acted like a present and happy spouse”.

Except that the two men were secretly using sex workers.

For their part, the Quebec police, who are well aware that the Capitale-Nationale is the province’s second center for the exploitation of minors, had set in motion an operation to try to trap the men who try to obtain this type of sexual services.

Thus, three false ads published on websites by the police attracted 167 people in two days.

“This gives a very good measure of the demand and the extent of the risk that a young person in a vulnerable situation runs,” argued Judge Mario Tremblay.

In the text messages exchanged between the accused and policewomen playing the role of a minor, it was explicitly written that the latter was 16 years old.

Arrest

Despite this, five individuals, including Raphaël Beaumont and Dave Hamel, showed up at the hotel room to have sexual services.

On the spot, the defendants were again informed that the woman in front of them was 16 years old.

“He was happy when he walked into the bedroom,” the judge said in his decision of Beaumont, 27, who wanted to have a blowjob for $70. “This crime has very real consequences for many young victims,” ​​said the judge, speaking of the full responsibility of the two defendants.

Charged with luring and communicating with a view to obtaining sexual services, Beaumont and Hamel unsuccessfully challenged the method of police investigation, then the minimum sentence of one year in the case of luring and six months for communication.

Sadness

There is “some uncertainty” about the imposition of minimum sentences due to legal debates taking place in the Court of Appeals and even in the Supreme Court, but the judge relied on different decisions to argue that a 12 month sentence was not exaggerated.

Raphaël Beaumont therefore received a 12-month sentence, while Dave Hamel, 42, whose process of introspection is limited, received a 13-month prison sentence.