Kamloops sex offender planned to start new life with abducted teens

CONTENT ADVISORY - This article deals with sexual assault A Kamloops youth knew Janos Juckiewicz for less than two months before he tried to steal her and her friend away to Vancouver Island and adopt new identities. He was more than twice their ages and had already raped them multiple times in the spring of 2024. That April, they were pulled over in his RV near Comox as he tried evading police. "He was a very convincing guy. He wasn't much to look at, but he had a really nice personality which gave the impression of being safe," one of the two survivors told iNFOnews.ca. Both their names are protected by a court-ordered publication ban, but the one who spoke with iNFOnews.ca, now 16 years old, said she wanted the public to know what he had done to them. The weeks-long nightmare left her traumatized, which she told directly to the court and Juckiewicz, now 34, last month. "I'm scared of men, scared I might be targeted again," she said in court. "I know in my heart most people aren't going to target me, I still have that fear. The reason I have this fear is I was so easily manipulated and groomed. It made me feel like it was love. How do I guarantee I won't be so easily manipulated again?" What she thought started as a friendship, turned into weeks of violent sexual encounters with Juckiewicz, often in his RV. They were introduced through mutual friends. The then-33-year-old would take her and a friend for drives and buy them energy drinks or he'd supply alcohol and cannabis. Shortly after they met Juckiewicz and his then-girlfriend broke up, and she trashed his camper. The teen victim said she offered to help him. "That was a big mistake though because he raped me that day," she said. She did return over the next three days and her friend, who would become the second victim, eventually joined him at a campsite in the Criss Creek area, roughly an hour from Kamloops. On June 30, Crown prosecutor Ben Martin said Juckiewicz treated her like his girlfriend and often bought her things, while the second victim looked to him almost as a father-figure. He was in a position of trust with them, he said. "The only way to leave (the campsite) was with him and they were very isolated. There was a significant amount of power he had over them while at that campsite," Martin said. The teen told iNFOnews.ca he would rape her once per day, but it was often more and reached 12 at one point. They were both victim if his sexual assaults. She told iNFOnews.ca she missed her mom and expressed wanting to return to her house, which angered Juckiewicz. He grabbed her by the throat and "slammed" her against a wall. "Don't ever say that shit to me again," she quoted him as saying. The court hear Juckiewicz characterized that moment as flirty and "a kind of dominance thing," but that's not how she saw it at all. He was also already on probation for a domestic assault against a former partner, whom he choked. "I was constantly scared to leave because I was worried about what he'd do if I left," she said. On April 15, police attended the campsite and warned him about spending too much time with teenage girls, then took her away, the court heard. Roughly a week later, he got a call from his probation officer who gave the same warning. That's when the three of them, Juckiewicz and the two teens, headed for the Comox area. He forced one teen to leave her phone behind and wrapped the other's in tinfoil, while turning GPS settings off on his own. The teen said Juckiewicz was planning for them to get new identities and they'd connect with his friend who was "posing as a cop." We were going to go stay with his buddy so we would have a more secure way of getting around and travelling without getting in trouble for our age difference," she said. "He said we were pulling a Jekyll and Hyde, running away causing mischief and breaking rules." He went to "significant lengths" to avoid being tracked by police, Martin told the court. While it's not clear if the tinfoil would have blocked a signal, it wasn't phone tracking that led to his arrest. Juckiewicz was planning for them to join up with a man named Jonathan Landry in the Comox area, the court heard. Martin said Juckiewicz "delivered unknown products" for Landry but knew that relationship would "end badly." Martin also said it was Landry who called police to report Juckiewicz had abducted the teens. Around 1 a.m., they were pulled over by a Comox Valley RCMP officer roughly an hour after they got off the ferry. "That was when I realized it's over and I can go home now. I don't have to deal with the rape and hyper-sexuality and all of that," the teen said. Though she admitted she was initially conflicted, disappointed at the loss of what felt like freedom but she also felt she was in danger during the trip. She later came to see she was being manipulated by a man much older than her. Kamloops RCMP announced the arrest on April 23, 2024. At the time, Juckiewicz was charged with two counts of abducting a minor. When the two teens later gave additional statements to police, the charges changed. He faced two counts of sexual interference of a person under 16, assault for the throat-grabbing incident and one charge for abduction. He pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference against both teens on Feb. 10. He has been in custody since his arrest on Vancouver Island. A court-ordered psychologist found he has a medium to high risk to reoffend and perceives himself to be a "victim of the system," while also holding an interest in violent sexual behaviour, underage girls and bestiality, Martin said. "Particularly concerning from the report... was Juckiewicz endorsing a philosophy of mentoring underage persons in sexual activities," he said. "He seemed to justify this view as something that's happened for hundreds of years." Juckiewicz's lawyer, Kyle Komarynsky, said he has made progress with rehabilitation programs while in custody at the Ford Mountain Correctional Centre, where he was transferred from Vancouver Island after several months in custody. His efforts toward rehabilitation were echoed by Juckiewicz himself while speaking to the court. "Hearing everything made me realize that what I did is something that should have never happened and as much as I needed to be here to learn the lessons I've learned, I would give anything to learn the lessons I have without the impact on other people," Juckiewicz said. "That's something I'll need to live with for the rest of my life." The Crown is seeking a total six-year sentence, which would be reduced to around four years with credit for time-served and a life-time registration as a sexual offender. His defence is seeking a two-year sentence after credit, which would allow him to stay in provincial custody. Upon release, the Crown is also seeking a 10-year order against contact with anyone under the age of 16, which may include his two young children who live in another province. As for the teen who spoke with iNFOnews.ca, she said she has been seeing a counsellor and working toward healing herself, but her distrust for men, especially those older than her, remains constant. She often stays behind closed doors where she feels safer, while struggling with memory and focus. "My mistake was trusting people introduced into my life who were older," she said. Juckiewicz is scheduled to be sentenced in November in Kamloops Provincial Court. NOTE TO READERS: If you find yourself in need of support please contact one of these organizations. Help is available 24 hours a day at each of these phone numbers: VictimLinkBC: 1-800-563-0808 Vancouver Rape Relief crisis line: 604-872-8212 Kamloops Sexual Assault Counselling Centre crisis line: 1-888-974-7278To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry mailto:llandry@infonews.ca  or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor mailto:news@infonews.ca . You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom mailto:tips@infonews.ca  and be entered to win a monthly prize draw. We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. SUBSCRIBE to our awesome newsletter here https://infotel.ca/newsletter .