Police in Kingston, Ontario took extraordinary measures with the release from prison of an Internet sex predator considered one of the most prolific ever caught in Canada. A legal leash (read full document after jump) was slapped on Mark Bedford (inset) when he walked out of penitentiary a free man after three years behind bars. Bedford is forbidden from using a computer that can access the Internet, along with 22 other strict conditions.
Bedford, a baby-faced 25 year old, is an unrepentant pedophile who resisted treatment in prison. “With what he’s done in the past, there’s a high probability that he might reoffend,” Det. Staff Sgt. Frank Goldschmidt, the OPP officer who heads a provincial child exploitation squad, told Cancrime. Goldschmidt was part of the team that caught Bedford. He pleaded guilty in 2008 to 10 crimes, including inciting a child to commit bestiality with a dog, extortion, possessing and distributing child pornography, and luring over the Internet. Investigators believe he victimized hundreds of young girls, aged nine to 15, in five countries (more on his crimes in this previous post).
Authorities took the rare step of keeping Bedford in prison for every day of his three-year sentence out of concern that he’d commit a new crime if granted early release. When he hit the expiry date of his sentence on March 11, police did the only thing they could – they hauled Bedford straight to a courtroom and had a judicial order imposed, a recognizance that severely restricts what Bedford can do and where he can go for two years. It also gives police broad power to keep tabs on him. Bedford must report to Kingston Police once a week, he must tell police if he moves from Kingston and report any travel outside the city and check in with police in the jurisdiction he travels to as soon as he gets there.
“We want to limit what the released person can do and we want to have some mechanism that, when they do those things that they’re not supposed to, we can do something about it,” Kingston Police Chief Stephen Tanner told Cancrime.
The order also extends a ban imposed on Bedford after his conviction in 2008. The trial judge barred Bedford for life from communicating by computer with anyone under the age of 14, but the new order forbids him from possessing or using “any computer system, digital storage media or any device with ability to access the internet.” Police can show up anytime, without warning, and scour through any computers to which he has access. The order also bars him from engaging in “any activity” that involves contact with anyone under age 16.
The judicial order also imposes a 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew, except for work.
Though Bedford pleaded guilty 10 crimes in a plea bargain, he may have committed hundreds. “He’s still right up there, pretty close to the top as being one of the worst as far as the number of victims go,” Goldschmidt said.
When Bedford was caught, he told a probation officer that his victims were liars and that the police were incompetents looking for a scapegoat. I was the only reporter at Bedford’s parole hearing inside medium-security Warkworth Institution in December 2009 (written record of hearing). He showed no remorse. He claimed that he knows his actions caused serious harm to the victims and that he has “deviant” sexual interests, but he never used the word ’sorry.’ He also admitted trying to trick sex offender experts into misdiagnosing his deviance. He left the clear impression that he has not come to terms with his deviance, that he doesn’t believe he needs treatment and that he doesn’t accept that he caused horrible damage to his victims.
Bedford is a devious predator. He used his computer skills to hack into the buddy lists of young girls. He’d masquerade as a friend and convince a girl to expose her breasts in front of a webcam. He would use the photos to extort the girl into performing more explicit acts, which he’d also capture. In one case, he coerced a 12-year-old girl into simulating sex with the family dog. In some cases, he coerced girls to insert items, including pencils and combs, into their vaginas. When his victims wouldn’t do as asked, Bedford would threaten to kill them or other family members. He had more than 40 victims in England. In addition to victims in Alberta in Canada, there were others in the United States, Mexico and France. Bedford hunted online victims from a computer in his parents home in Kingston.
The judicial order imposed in March indicates that’s where he’s living again.
Here’s the recognizance that Bedford signed, along with the list of 23 conditions:
Judicial order on released predator Mark Bedford
» Written record of Bedford’s 2009 parole hearing
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