CANADA:
'under new management'
PING!
Posted on 10/26/2006 12:13:48 PM PDT by GMMAC
U.S. sex offender serving sentence in Canada
arrested at Canada-U.S. border
cnews.canoe.ca
October 26, 2006
ST. CATHARINES, Ont. (CP) - An American schoolteacher sentenced to three years' probation in Canada for a sex offence involving a teen was reportedly arrested Thursday when he tried to enter the country from the United States.
Hamilton's CH News reported that Malcolm Watson was arrested by Canadian officials while returning from a court appearance in Buffalo, N.Y. On Monday, the 35-year-old Watson pleaded guilty in Buffalo to endangering the welfare of a child, and sexual abuse in the third degree.
He was sentenced to serve his probation in Canada as part of a plea agreement.
The former teacher in Buffalo has lived in Ontario with his wife and three children for four years, most recently in St. Catharines, Ont., a short drive from the Canada-U.S. border.
The sentence infuriated Canadian politicians, including Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who warned against the province becoming a "dumping ground" for U.S. offenders.
Reached in Buffalo, Watson's American lawyer Oscar Smukler said he was unaware his client had even been back in the U.S. and had no details about the circumstances of his arrest.
Smukler blamed the media for turning the case into a "political football" by blowing it out of all proportion.
"The press has made him out to be some kind of high-risk criminal," Smukler said. "He was convicted of having kissed a young lady and touched her breast outside her clothing."
Watson has engaged a Canadian immigration lawyer, but Smukler would not say who it is.
The Canadian Border Services Agency refused to discuss the case, referring all calls to the office of federal Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day. Calls to the ministry were not immediately returned.
The sentence will be rendered null and void if Watson is deported to the U.S., where he faces a year in jail. As part of the sentence, Watson was declared a Level 1 sex offender, ordered to surrender a DNA sample, and forbidden from re-entering the U.S., except for probation hearings.
CANADA:
'under new management'
PING!
I Don't understand this at all. This POS gets probatino if he stays in Canada? Why is the POS not being sentanced to jail right here in NY? We could send him to Auburn or Attica to be the b***h of some life with out possibility of paroler.
This whole thing has been confusing to me. I know Americans who have been refused entry into Canada to hunt/fish because they had a misdemeanor DUI on their record. They were told that is a felony in Canada.....
That's what I was wondering. Is this a new policy or just response to the publicity in this case.
Not anymore. The Liberals are no longer in power. They just denied a whole bunch of appeals by deserters who were hiding in Canada, sending them back to face military trials in the USA. The Liberal- soft on drug crimes- policies were also tossed out.
The sentence infuriated Canadian politicians, including Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, who warned against the province becoming a "dumping ground" for U.S. offenders.
The former teacher in Buffalo has lived in Ontario with his wife and three children for four years...
A no win deal for the United States.
They're griping that this guy is serving probation in Canada, and they'd be griping even louder if we required him to leave his family in Canada or move them to the United States to be with him as he served his time.
Anti-Americanism is still alive and kicking in Canada.
Good. Canada's doing exactly what it should be doing - not letting the guy into the country. He belongs in jail. Let him serve jail time in New York.
Good news.
There seems to be some confusion here. If an American is caught breaking the law in Canada, they serve their sentence in Canada. But if this American is charged in the USA, but is staying in Canada, Canadians expect that he serve his time in his own country rather than Canadians having to pay the bill. For American courts to say he should serve his time in a Canadian jail, is just wrong. It's no wonder The Canadians cried foul, it would be like Canada sentencing a Canadian criminal to serve their time in the USA, because he was working in the USA under a work visa at the time.
In this case, the criminals family should be deported back to the USA, because their reason for staying in Canada (husbands work visa or whatever) is no longer valid.
Some groups of kooky leftists, Quakers, object to them being kicked out.
How much does this guy's probation cost Canada?
it's ok.. he's a teacher...
Great response!
Malcolm Watson agreed to a three-year
exile sentence at his home in Canada. (CBC)
Watson, who was convicted of sexually assaulting a 15-year-old student at a New York state school, lives in St. Catharines, Ont.
He was sentenced to serve three years probation in Canada after he requested to live in Ontario with his Canadian wife and children. A U.S. judge approved the plea bargain.
If Ottawa bars him from entering Canada, his sentence will be declared null and void, and he will be forced to return to the U.S.
Niagara Regional Police had been reviewing his conviction, and reasons and terms for his probation order, as well as whether he had any history with police in the St. Catharines region.
Watson was ordered by the U.S. court to provide a DNA sample and is forbidden from re-entering the U.S., except for probation hearings.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has slammed the American court for approving the plea bargain, saying Canada is not a "dumping ground" for U.S. offenders.
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