A football coach believed to have worked at the Académie Saint-Louis has been arrested in connection with seduction, manufacture of child pornography and voyeurism in at least 16 alleged victims.
The Quebec City Police Service (SPVQ) arrested the 27-year-old suspect from Quebec on Thursday. Félix-Antoine Bédard was arrested and appeared via video conference late in the afternoon to answer a total of 25 charges, most of which were aimed at luring and transmitting sexually explicit material to minors.
With no criminal record, the man is also being targeted by a production executive for child pornography and exhibitionism “in front of multiple victims, children under 16.”
There are currently 16 different plaintiffs on the file who were born between 2004 and 2010.
The period during which the alleged facts occurred ranges from January 2020 to February 23, 2023 for some of the leaders.
Photo taken from Facebook
Felix Antoine Bedard
Other victims?
The Crown refused to release the accused, who is due to appear in court on February 27. Me Michel Bérubé also pointed out that other potential victims could be added to the account.
“We have reason to believe there may be more victims, so we invite anyone to contact the Quebec City Police Department,” the prosecutor said, adding, however, that “academic life is going so fast and so normal.” can take its course as possible”.
Quick survey
According to SPVQ, the investigation began on February 21 after a victim filed a complaint, which “quickly led investigators to uncover a total of 18 potential underage victims.”
The police department states that “the suspect in this case had professional affiliations with at least one educational institution in the Quebec region, as well as various football sports associations.”
He allegedly used a social networking app to commit the alleged baiting offences.
“The investigation is ongoing, so it cannot be ruled out that there will be more victims,” said SPVQ spokesman David Poitras. “Every denunciation will be heard on our side.”
intervention of the police
According to our information, the accused was a football coach and was involved in the Saint-Louis Academy.
In an email obtained by Le Journal on Wednesday, the school told parents that a “special situation required the presence of several police officers” in the secondary pavilion during the day.
“Students were questioned about submitted information about the bait,” it says. The notification points out that everything is taken care of by the SPVQ and that a psychosocial team is available to the students.
Bédard, who has a bachelor’s degree in sports intervention, has also worked as a coach at Le Boisé elementary school. The filing also identifies him as deputy technical director at the Association de Soccer des Premières-Seigneuries. He was therefore involved in both academic and civil life.
“Unacceptable”
Asked by Le Journal, general manager of the Quebec Regional Football Association (ARSQ), Philippe Bernard said it was not a good day for the sport.
“The control measures we have in place are working to a point. We require a criminal record filter every three years and the person was filtered in 2022,” he said.
As a precaution, the accused was suspended from the entire Soccer Quebec network.
“We are deeply shocked by these allegations,” said Olivier Plante, interim general manager of Soccer Quebec. As parents ourselves and managers in a sports organization, these are situations that upset us in the highest degree. Our hearts go out to all the alleged victims and their families. Whatever the sport, these are things we don’t want to see in our Quebec sports community.
- Listen to the column by Karine Gagnon, political columnist at the JDM and JDQ and also associate news director at Quebec newspaper At QUB radio :
mobilization
The Sexual Exploitation of Minors (ESM) Unit worked with the Youth Intervention and Prevention Unit and investigators from the Serious Crimes Module to shed light on the case.
“This effective mobilization of resources is a testament to the importance that the SPVQ places on reporting child sexual exploitation in order to secure and protect victims,” the SPVQ said.
“We remind each alleged victim that it is important to make a complaint by contacting us, whether the events are recent or not. We pledge to support any denunciation of decoys, as in all files we keep,” the police insist in their press release.
– With the collaboration of Pierre-Paul Biron and Jean-Françoois Racine.
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