Pedophile declared dangerous offender
A
sexual predator with more than 50 aliases specialized in
assaulting children from Christian communities.
By Debra Fieguth • ChristianWeek staff
PIERCELAND, SK–A career criminal who preyed on children in small communities has been declared a dangerous offender. That means Louis Rudolph Antoine Barron, now 65, will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
Nineteen of Barron’s victims, many of them from close-knit Christian communities, testified at a hearing in Pierceland in October and November. Provincial court judge Timothy White gave Barron an indeterminate sentence December 1 when he declared Barron a dangerous offender. Describing him as an "inveterate liar," White said "the offender cannot tell the truth."
For Barron’s victims, many of whom have suffered long-term consequences of sexual assaults, the pronouncement brings some sense of peace. "My anger has dissipated," says one of those who testified at the hearing. "I keep feeling sorry for him," he says. During the hearing, "I had to remind myself that this man is dangerous."
His anger did surface when he heard the testimonies of other victims, some of whom had been younger children at the time of assaults and who hadn’t had as much opportunity to process their emotions.
The victim, now over 30 and living with his wife and children in Saskatoon, was befriended at age 13 by Barron, then calling himself Lindall Erikssen, in 1980 (CW, Jun4/96). When he saw Barron in the courtroom 17 years later, "there was no doubt in my mind" that it was the same man. "It all came back at that point."
Barron’s offences, which took place in five provinces, began in 1980. Although he spent time in jail in British Columbia, it wasn’t until March 1996 that an RCMP officer in Pierceland began piecing together a series of offences and aliases. Barron was arrested two months later in Calgary.
RCMP constable Andy Seidemann uncovered Barron’s numerous identities–more than 50 aliases–in 1996 when he began investigating an assault case involving children in Pierceland in 1984.
