A convicted online predator with a high-risk of reoffending is making Surrey his home, the provincial corrections branch is warning.
Jeffrey Goddard, 23, has a criminal history including inviting, counselling or inciting a person under 16 to touch any person, as well as communicate via computer to lure child under 16, according to a release sent out by the B.C. Corrections Branch.
He has been court-ordered to conditions including a prohibition to communicate with anyone under 18 years old, not to establish a social networking side.
Goddard is 5′ 9″ and weighs 150 lbs. He is Caucasian with brown hair and green eyes.
He has offended against male and female children, in both an opportunistic and predatory manner, the corrections branch said in a release.
In several instances, courts heard that Goddard began his online interaction posing as “Julia.” He would post pictures of a girl for boys, saying that was him.
He also posed as a police officer and TV producer to gain boys’ confidence.
In one case, two 13-year-old boys were on their way to meet him, when they were informed of his ruse through the media.
Goddard was released in February 2012, and the Abbotsford Police Department issued a public notice at that time.
Goddard’s most recent charges stem from his posing on Facebook last summer as a landscaper, hiring two teen boys to do yard work at his residence, and communicating online with a teen boy – or boys – in Florida and California.
Surrey’s Acting Mayor Barinder Rasode is upset that Goddard has landed in Surrey.
“I don’t believe with this context that the justice system he would have received the appropriate support and counselling in place for him to manage the behaviours he is accused of committing,” Rasode said Thrusday afternoon. “So that does cause me great concern that he’ll be moving into a neighbourhood where we have more children than any other city in Canada.”
~with files from Vikki Hopes
