Crown seeking long term offender status for flasher (updated)

The Crown will be seeking an assessment that could have a Niagara man—found guilty this morning of two counts of indecent exposure and nine counts of breach of probation—declared a long-term offender.

Eric William Brown, 42, faced 23 charges related to offences that occurred in North Bay between June 1 and Aug. 31, 2002. Some of the charges were either dropped or stayed.

Brown was acquitted on six charges of breach of probation because witnesses had been unable to establish his identity, said presiding judge Justice Gregory Rodgers.

Assistant Crown attorney Paul Larsh said he would seek long-term offender status for Brown because the public and children in particular “need to be protected from this type of behaviour.”

Larsh added Brown's offences weren't serious enough for him to be considered a dangerous offender, which carries a mandatory life sentence with no chance of parole.

Prohibited weapons
Justice Rodgers will decide March 1 whether to grant the request for an assessment to get the long-term offender process started.

Long-term offenders can receive a minimum imprisonment of two years under Section 753.1 of the Criminal Code, and be ordered to undergo community supervision for up to 10 years.
Brown was charged under two separate informations.

The first contained eight charges and the second 15.
The indecent exposure charges involved incidents which occurred at North Bay beaches in the summer of 2002; the breach of probation charges involved accounts of Brown talking to children or buying them food at the North Bay YMCA during the same time period, as well as being near city beaches and in the presence of children under 16.

Brown had pleaded guilty last June to having prohibited weapons and breaching a probation order by disguising himself. He was sentenced to 15 months for stalking young girls with a disguise and stun gun. Brown had also exposed himself to an 11-year-old Mattawa girl.

Two stun guns, duct tape and two notebooks filled with names and addresses of local children were among the items found by police in the trunk of Brown’s car when they arrested him in Mattawa.

And a Superior Court of Justice order made November 2001 in St. Catharines, Ont., prohibited Brown from being alone on foot within 300 metres of a public beach, swimming area, elementary school and other places where children under 16 could be found unless a responsible adult was in their presence.

Acquitted on charges
In the first three counts of breach of probation dealt with in court today, Justice Rodgers said witnesses between 9 and 13 who claimed Brown had spoken to them, bought them candy or offered them rides were unable to identify him either in court or through photo line-ups. Brown was acquitted on those charges.

Things were different for counts four and six, though.

During his recent trial an 11-year-old girl testified she’d seen a man at the YMCA 20 to 28 times during the course of the summer in 2002. The man had complimented her on her swimming and would also butt into her conversations with friends.

She picked out a picture of Brown from a police photo line-up and also identified him in court as the man from the Y.
When police had arrested Brown in Mattawa, Rodgers said, the girl’s name and address were found in one of his two notebooks.

Rodgers said Brown’s contact with the girl at the Y was “precisely the type of conduct prohibited by the probation order.”

Physical descriptions similar
Count six in the first information was similar, Rodgers said. A nine-year-old girl had testified she’d met a man at the Y who talked to her alone by the pool.

The girl identified Brown as the man she’d spoken to by picking his photo out of a line-up. Her name and directions to her house were also discovered in Brown’s notebooks. Rodgers found Brown guilty on that count.

Brown was also found guilty on two charges of exposing himself at city beaches. Rodgers said the incidents, and what Brown was wearing when they happened, were similar to the indecent exposure in Mattawa. The physical descriptions of Brown in both North Bay and Mattawa were also similar.

Threatened a court constable
Today’s proceedings were interrupted at one point when Brown fired his lawyer Yaro Mikitchook in court. Within moments, though, Brown could be heard telling Mikitchook he had been rehired.

Mikitchook asked Rodgers to be removed from the case, and the judge agreed.

Moments before dismissing his lawyer Brown had started tapping the inside of the prisoner's box.
When Justice Rodgers asked him if he had been making the noise Brown told him to “f—k off.” As well Brown threatened a court constable, saying he wanted to blow her "f---ing head off.”

He caused a commotion as well while being taken to the court’s holding cells and was brought back in handcuffs.