Dad Arrested After Daughter Draws Man With Gun (Toy Gun Was Found At Home)

Brantford Expositioner ^ | February 26, 2012 | Staff

[lbryce]

Jessie Sansone and his family are reeling after he was arrested and strip searched by police after his four-year-old daughter drew a picture of a man with a gun in her Kitchener, Ont., kindergarten class.

The 26-year-old father of four said Saturday the sketch was supposed to be him, getting the bad guys and monsters.

The school must have thought differently, as after Nevaeh drew it Wednesday, the school contacted Family and Children's Services and they called police.

Waterloo Police met Sansone at the school when he tried to pick up his kids he was told he was charged with possession of a firearm. He was then handcuffed and put him in one of the several squad cars waiting outside, he said.

"When I was finally able to see my family, after this ordeal was over, my little girl ran up and gave me a hug me and asked: 'Daddy, are you mad at me?'" said Sansone, his voice choked. "How could she ever think that I would be mad at her? She knows this has to do with her drawing."

Sansone, and his wife, Stephanie, have been together since they were teenagers. They have four children, aged 10 years to 15 months, and Stephanie is five-months pregnant with their fifth child.

"Years ago, being really young parents we were given the cold shoulder, like we didn't know how to raise our children, this feels like that again, because I felt totally alone in that cell," Sansone said. "We still can't believe this happened to us."

Sansone had a scrape with the law five years ago, but has since turned his life around, left Toronto for Kingston, Ont., and has become a certified counsellor.

[Sam Gamgee]

This is a great opportunity to tell the story of Bruce Montague. Bruce decided to protest the gun registry some years ago by ripping up his long gun license on parliament hill. For a whole year nothing happened; and then the police arrested him in front of his children at a local store, and searched his home. I don’t recall the exact details but he spent time in jail. After it was apparent that nothing more could be done to harm him, he was released. But now the government of Ontario is trying to seize his home saying his home comes from the proceeds of illegal activity.