Serial child sex offender denied release, held for two more weeks

Parents and other concerned citizens can breathe a brief sigh of relief knowing a serial pedophile will remain behind bars for at least another two weeks.

Source: Toronto Police Service

Parents and other concerned citizens can breathe a brief sigh of relief knowing a serial pedophile will remain behind bars for at least another two weeks.

Lucas Petrini made headlines earlier this year when he was arrested after allegedly approaching and touching children, breaching several of his release orders related to a previous conviction. Today, the Ontario Court of Justice provided Petrini with a two-week discretionary bench warrant — meaning Petrini will remain in custody at the Toronto South Detention Centre until at least his next court date on June 11.

Petrini was first convicted of violently assaulting a nine-year-old boy in Brampton in 2008 when he was just 18. Armed with a knife, he abducted a boy who was walking home from school and forced him into a nearby residence, where he threatened the boy's life with a weapon and repeatedly sexually assaulted him over the course of a six-hour period.

For that disturbing crime, he was sentenced to eight years in a Kingston prison with an additional 10-year supervision order.

Upon release, parole documents showed Petrini had repeatedly violated the conditions of his orders, including ongoing drug use, obtaining devices with internet access and possessing partially nude and sexualized depictions of children.

Those breaches have, at times, earned him new convictions that landed him back in custody; and other times, charges were not laid at all, or he was simply reprimanded.

As part of his first release from prison in 2019, for example, the Parole Board of Canada put numerous conditions in place that Petrini proceeded to break.

Those conditions included attending rehabilitation treatments, avoiding children, and alcohol and illegal substances. He was prohibited from communicating with individuals he knows to be involved in criminal activity, and not owning a smartphone capable of accessing the internet. He was also placed on a lifetime sex offender registry and ordered to reside at and return to a halfway house each night.

Not long after his release, Petrini was promptly caught breaching those conditions several times. Breaches included snorting his medication as well as obtaining an iPhone with access to the internet, which gave him access to a photo of a half-dressed boy along with sexualized cartoons, according to his parole records.

In May 2019, the parole board recommended that Kingston Police proceed with new criminal charges for Petrini’s breaches, but for reasons never explained, they declined the suggestion.

Petrini’s order was thereby suspended, and the parole board decided to impose the following additional conditions on Petrini’s order: a computer/internet restriction, a pornography restriction, and a condition prohibiting him from purchasing, acquiring, possessing or accessing pictures of children under the age of 18 in any media form.

A month later, Petrini was released again but was then found to be smoking marijuana in a wooded area behind a local gymnastics club where young people train. The parole board noted the gym’s large garage door is often open, and the inside is visible from the wooded area. Petrini’s release order was suspended again.

The information about the marijuana consumption was shared with Kingston Police but, once again, charges were never pursued.

"Your release history confirms, without a doubt, that you continue to experience difficulties complying with the conditions of your release," the Parole Board of Canada wrote in a 2021 decision. "Opportunities have been afforded you to remain in the community, but you have failed to respond favourably."

Investigators from the Toronto Police Service said Petrini came back on their radar a few months ago.

That's when police said they received multiple reports of children being approached by an unknown male while walking near a popular Toronto park on their way to school. Police added that the unknown man attempted to get their attention by calling out to them, touched at least two children on the shoulder, and asked the children to accompany him to an unknown location.

Petrini was found nearby and nabbed as their main suspect in the case.

The re-arrest of 34-year-old Petrini left many Canadians questioning how their children were being potentially put at risk, as authorities neglected to put out a public warning about his whereabouts or his history of re-offending.