Police seek victims of child predator
Judge orders accused to undergo 60-day psychiatric assessment
Some time after OC Transpo bus-driver William Groves lost his job for molesting young girls in 2004, he got a new job sweeping streets in various Ontario towns but kept attempting to lure children online and in person to an out-of-town hotel room.
His new employer footed the bill for his hotel room, and Groves, 50, tried to make the most of it, living there for up to 17 days at a time.
He was working flat out but somehow managed to find time to text young girls thousands of times.
Groves has pleaded guilty to more than 20 child-sex crimes against girls 11 to 16.
Ottawa police detectives are still searching for potential victims and have been sifting through more than 60,000 call logs and texts obtained from a production order served on cellphone service provider Rogers Communications.
Most of the evidence presented by prosecutors so far leading up to what is expected to be a dangerous-offender application has involved online child luring.
But on Thursday, court heard that he befriended a 15-year-old and met her at least four times, including the day he drove her, alone to his hotel room. She resisted his sexual advances, and when she was interviewed by police, she became nervous about talking about it.
The detectives handled the victim gently, and when the girl looked at a photo lineup, she cried when she saw the face of her tormentor, the older man who made her “scared”
‘This picture had turned her world upside down.’ DET. TAMI CASSELMAN Ottawa police
and who showered her with pizza money only to close in on her the moment he finally had her alone.
His photograph was No. 5. She can’t forget his face. He crept into her life at a most vulnerable time. Seasoned Ottawa police Det. Tami Casselman described the girl’s life at the time as “utter chaos.”
And when the girl recognized Groves in the picture lineup, she pulled her hoodie over her face and cried.
“This picture had turned her world upside down,” the detective testified.
The presiding judge has ordered Groves, who remains in jail, to undergo a 60-day psychiatric assessment.
The case resumes in April.