Cop who did time for sex offences briefly jailed again
A former Montreal cop who was sentenced to an eight-year prison term for a series of sex-related attacks on eight women was recently returned behind bars because police feared he was about to strike again, the Montreal Gazette has learned.
Benoît Guay, 45, was arrested in October and then released in December, following a strange incident that left authorities familiar with his case concerned he was heading down the same path that led him to sexually assault and beat 10 women between May 2004 and July 2005, while he was a member of the Montreal police. He even used his service firearm to commit some of his crimes. He used his experience in reading body language, part of his police surveillance training, to stalk young women who seemed vulnerable.
In 2007, he admitted to the crimes he was charged with related to eight women (ranging from uttering threats while holding a knife to rape) and later told the Parole Board of Canada he had sexually assaulted two other women that the police did not know about.
On June 12, 2007, Guay was sentenced and, with time served factored in, was left with a 64-month prison term to serve. He was also declared a long-term offender which meant the parole board could impose conditions on him for a period of 10 years after his sentence expired in 2012.
According to the written summary of a decision made concerning those conditions in December, Guay was arrested in October after he received special permission, from a parole officer, to travel to a city to visit a relative who was gravely ill in a hospital. The name of the city was redacted from a copy of the document obtained by the Montreal Gazette. But it mentions how, on Oct. 21, police in that city approached Guay, just before midnight, because he was sitting in an idling car “and appeared to be nervous while watching a house or waiting for someone.” The police who approached him also noted that Guay’s car was close to a strip bar and “other establishments of the same nature.”
When asked to identify himself, Guay produced his driver’s licence but failed to inform the police that he was a long-term offender. He also told the police he was lost because he was unfamiliar with the city. But, in the days that followed, his explanation became convoluted and made little sense. A few days later, his case management team (the people with Correctional Service Canada who monitor Guay’s development as a long-term offender) ordered that he be put behind bars. According to the summary, they feared Guay was returning to the path that led him to attack his 10 victims.
Before he went on his crime spree, Guay frequented strip bars and hired escorts when he found himself in stressful situations. His case management team was concerned because, at the time of his arrest in October, Guay was stressed over the impending death of the close relative he had visited earlier the same day. The relative died the following day. Also, at the time, Guay was stressed over courses he had begun taking in September.
The summary also mentions that Guay recently remarried and that his in-laws had no idea he was a convicted serial sex offender until they saw a documentary on television detailing his crimes.