SELECTED CASE LAW

BRITISH COLUMBIA:

2018 BCSC 729

In 2018 BCSC 729, Mr. D was charged with six counts of sexual assault, occurring over the course of two years.

Through an online modelling scheme, Mr. D induced the complainants to engage in sexual activity with him. During these incidents, he often posed as a professional modelling agent who was a homosexual to try and suggest he wasn’t actually sexually interested in them, but was doing it for the interview. Because he acted fraudulently, some of the women could not have legally consented.

He contracted Ms. DT, a 19-year-old woman, on Facebook, offering her a modeling gig where he persuaded her to “interview” at his home, where he convinced her to remove her clothing and touched her sexually without her consent. He claimed to be a modelling agent named “Nov Stefano”.

He contacted Ms. ST, who was 29 at the time of the trial, by creating a fictious persona online, a model named “Brad”. Using appropriated images of an Australian model, he communicated with Ms. ST through Plenty of Fish (a dating website) and Facebook. Mr. D also claimed to be a modeling agent who knew Brad and booked an “interview” with Ms. ST. At the interview Mr. D tried to convince Ms. ST to sign a modelling contract. Ms. ST needed a ride from the hospital after a night of partying too much and Mr. D took her to his house where he talked about her signing the contract and drank wine. She blacked out that night. The police found photos and videos of her naked while she unconscious at Mr. D’s house, including images of him sexually penetrating her, none of which she remembered. She could not have consented to sex while unconscious.

He contacted Ms. HS, a 19-year-old woman, on a modeling website, Model Mayhem. She was contacted by two men named Rob and Stephano who claimed to be photographers and part of Jurgita Modelling Agency. They told her they could pay her the most money ($25,000) for doing nude erotica, which she did not want to do. She met with Mr. D who pretended to be a model-ling agent. She went for an “interview” where Mr. D photographed her and pushed her to take nude photos which she did not want to do, he told her she had to masturbate and engage sex-ually with Mr. D even though she didn’t want to and that had not been a part of her deal. He told her that all models did and she had to. He filmed her engaging in these sexual acts and she could be heard saying no to certain sexual acts. She called the police afterwards.

He contacted Ms. JB, a 23-year-old woman, pretending to be Brad on Plenty of Fish; he claimed to be an erotic model who worked for an agency. Ms. JB said she was interested in doing erotic modelling, “Brad” put her in contact with his agent, Nov. Mr. D, pretending to be the modelling agency, met with Ms. JB and booked an audition video. She was filmed engaging in sexual activity with Mr. D. She said she was with him a second time and she fell asleep but Mr. D kept touching her and trying to penetrate her. She texted him accusing him of rape. She believed Brad had set her up and called the police about concerns about the video. The evidence Ms. JB provided was deemed to be unreliable, and Mr. D was acquitted of this charge.

He contacted Ms. JN, a 28 year old woman at the time of the trial, through Plenty of Fish, pre-tending to be Brad. Their messages were sexual and Ms. JN was interested in having sex with Brad. She spoke to someone she thought was Brad’s friend “Stephano”. Brad told her that he was sending Stephano over as an audition to film sex with her and then he would review the tapes to decide if he wanted to have sex with her. Mr. D came to her house pretending to be Stephano and had sex with Ms. JN and filmed the sexual activity. He tried to perform anal on her and she told him to stop, at which point, Mr. D said she failed the audition. During a second incident in his car, Mr. D made Ms. JN give him oral sex without seeing if she consented.

Mr. D met Ms. AT, a 25-year-old woman, on Plenty of Fish, posing as Brad. “Brad” claimed to be in the adult modelling industry and tried to convince her to model. Ms. AT met with “Steph-ano” at a coffee shop, who was Mr. D posing as a modelling agent, and they arranged for a photoshoot. He told her he would pay her $21,000 for a contract. They went over the contract and had an audition that included Ms. AT masturbating and having sex with Mr. D, which she hadn’t been told she was expected to do. Brad encouraged her to do another interview. Ms. AT meets with Mr. D again and he films her engaging with him sexually again. They consumed alcohol and cocaine. Mr. D also had sexual intercourse with her while she was unconscious and filmed it.

In addition to these complainants, 11 more women came forward with similar experiences of uncharged sexual assault resulting from a fake modelling audition, using the fake persona Brad to initiate contact and the fake gay modelling agent persona to engage in sexual activity during the auditions.

While on bail pending sentencing, Mr. D executed a new scheme through Craigslist, fraudulent-ly casting female dancers for supposed music videos, posing as a friend of Wiz Khalifa. He had one woman interview who he told had to have sex with him to get the job. There was addi-tional evidence of at least eight women being filmed while sexually engaging with Mr. D for interviews for an escort agency.

Due to his pattern of harmful behaviour, Mr. D was found to be a dangerous offender and given an indeterminate incarceration sentence. Additional orders included registration as a sex of-fender for life, a DNA order, a lifetime weapons prohibition, and a forfeiture of property related to the offence.

Also see: 2016 BCSC 1565 (Trial); 2016 BCSC 720 (evidentiary application); 2016 BCSC 764 (evidentiary application); 2016 BCSC 877 (evidentiary application); 2016 BCSC 878 (evidentiary application); 2017 BCSC 1644 (application for stay of proceedings); 2017 BCSC 1565 (trial).

Criminal Offence(s): Sexual Assault