Junior Spencer - Repeat Sex Offender - Pedophile

"25% of all sex offenders re-offend within 15 years"
..... Sarah Tofte

You've been hearing his name since Thursday. But if it rings any alarm bells, that may be because it's not the first time his moniker has come up.

More than 24 hours ago, Toronto Police released the name of Junior Spencer, a man with a long history of sexually assaulting children and making and distributing child pornography. Cops warned he was being released from prison and was coming back to live in Toronto under very strict conditions. But they feared he was at a high risk to re-offend and told parents to watch out for him.

Spencer is staying at a halfway house on Keele St., prompting the Toronto District School Board to issue a warning of its own to parents.

There's good reason for the caution. Because Spencer has been in the news many, many times before.

The first time you heard his name was in a CityNews report on September 19, 2000. That was the day cops revealed the existence of an entity known as "The Family". But there was nothing familial about the group. Instead, it was a ring of 20-25 males who specialized in child pornography.

And to the shock of many, its apparent ringleader was running the operation out of a secure facility: Warkworth Correctional Institute. Spencer was in another jail but was also charged with being a member and distributing the disgusting content.

Cops called it a highly organized ring and a danger to children. "They're being preyed upon by operations like this," related Supt. Ron Taverner. "Obviously if this stuff is being manufactured, young people are being duped."



Flash forward to February 2003 and Spencer's name surfaces again - this time in a scenario that's eerily familiar. He's being released after his sentence ends, prompting a warning from police that he's at a high risk to commit similar crimes again.

They outlined a scenario about how he approaches children. "Typically, he befriends them and in some cases, he's taken pictures and pornographic images of them and distributes them to some of his friends," explained Det Sgt. Elizabeth Byrnes.

Parents worried and police kept watch, but despite extreme conditions placed on his freedom, it wasn't enough to stop him.

A year later, in May 2004, cops' worst fears were realized when Junior Spencer was rearrested after authorities raided a home near Lansdowne and Dupont. This time, the pedophile was found to be a member of a new group called "The Company". But the name change hadn't altered his sick desires.

"What they do is go out in our community and seek out and find street kids, kids that are either runaways or have been kicked out and make them offers of housing and food," detailed Staff Insp. Bruce Smollet. "And in exchange, they're forced to participate in various sex acts."

It's those charges that put Spencer back behind bars. Now, almost four years later, his time served is up and he's returned to Toronto in a disturbing and seemingly endless loop for the justice system - back on the streets amid warnings he'll be looking for more victims among your kids.

13% of all new sex crimes are committed by
registered sex offenders.
Currently registered sex offenders are
one fifth of one percent of the population


0.2% of the population is committing 13%
of all NEW sex crimes
per Sarah Tofte