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In the midst of St. Marys’ Stonetown Heritage Festival Saturday evening, police arrested registered sex offender John (Paul) Lacroix for breaching terms of a court prohibition order, Perth County OPP stated in a press release sent out Monday morning.
At around 6 p.m., police were alerted to a suspicious person seen at Milt Dunnell Fields (The Flats) in St. Marys. Although details are sparse as of yet, police said Lacroix, 47, was using a white-coloured, early-model motor home in the park and he was charged with failing to “comply with prohibition order regarding children.”
“We can’t release any specific details, we’re just still investigating it,” said Perth County OPP media relations officer Mike Melnychuk. “We want anyone that had any contact or was approached – we’re looking for any assistance with this investigation.”
Lacroix was originally arrested Nov. 29, 2010 on charges of drug trafficking and possession as part of the Stratford Police Service’s investigation into street-level drug trafficking in the city’s downtown core, dubbed Project Jewel. The investigation was a response to 50 third-party reports between June 25 and Sept. 15, 2010 of a man supplying teenage girls with drugs and alcohol.
Lacroix, the only person charged as part of Project Jewel, was arrested after two undercover female police officers posing as teenagers were invited to his Wellington Street apartment on Nov. 5, to purchase marijuana. The same officers returned to Lacroix’s apartment on Nov. 11, where they saw three teenage girls between the ages of 15 and 16 drinking and smoking pot.
Upon being released from custody, Lacroix was arrested again Dec. 22, 2010 after further investigation resulted in additional charges of performing an indecent act, sexual interference, invitation to sexual touching, exposing himself, and sexual assault, along with several additional sexual offenses.
According to a Beacon Herald article from Feb. 22, 2011, as part of a search warrant executed at Lacroix’s apartment on Nov. 29, police found a journal listing the names of teenage girls he had supplied drugs and alcohol to in hopes of having sex with them once they turned 16.
After pleading guilty to sexual interference, exposing himself, trafficking marijuana, obstruction of justice and breaking bail conditions (ten other charges were dropped), Lacroix was sentenced on Feb. 28 to 23 months in custody and he was ordered to register as a sexual offender by Justice Kathryn McKerlie at the Ontario Court of Justice in Stratford.
The sentence also included a 10-year weapons prohibition and a three-year probation order not to have contact with anyone (other than two named family members) under the age of 16. Lacroix was to serve out his sentence at the Ontario Correctional Institute in Brampton, where he could enroll in the sexual offender program and receive counseling.
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