FREDERIC SERRE
The 1019 Report
A LaSalle man has been sentenced to 12 years behind bars for sexually abusing six children, ages 5 to 11 in various regions of the province, including St. Polycarpe, St. Clet and Île Perrot.
Forty-two-year-old Michael Michaud was also sentenced for being in possession of more than 45,000 photos and 11,000 videos of boys between the ages of 2 months and 8 years old being sexually assaulted — many of them by Michaud.
With time already served in pre-trial detention, Michaud will be a free man in nine and a half years.
A Quebec Court judge rendered his decision last Friday at the Montreal courthouse as the parents of two of the victims looked on, and after the Crown outlined the grisly details of Michaud’s crimes. Michaud appeared by videoconferencing from prison, where he has been held since his arrest in July 2024.
Almost exactly a year ago, Michaud pleaded guilty to sexual assault, invitation to sexual touching, voyeurism and producing and distributing child pornography.
Michaud’s crimes occurred between 2011 and 2024 in various municipalities in the Greater Montreal area, after he befriended families with young children, offering them babysitting or mentoring services. It was when he was alone with the children that he sexually assaulted them and filmed his attacks.
Michaud confessed to police last year to having sexually assaulted a 7-year-old boy. Police found videos of the sexual acts on Michaud’s phone.
“My son is also serving a sentence: one of fear and memories he never deserved,” the victim’s mother told the court last Friday.
The child was “more withdrawn and less cheerful” after the day of the crime, his father told authorities. Even today, he “is suffering terribly,” according to his mother, who added that she finds it “unbearable to know that this is not an isolated case.”
Michaud admitted to engaging in sexual contact with four other children between 2011 and 2023 and to voyeurism involving a fifth.
Details of how exactly Michaud came into contact with his victims, including those who lived in the Vaudreuil-Soulanges area, were not released to protect the identity of the minors involved.
The accused, who is HIV-positive, gained the parents’ trust to spend time alone with the boys. He slept with them or even took baths with them.
“My son was stolen from me,” the mother of another victim told the court. “He’s distrustful, sometimes lost in his thoughts. He’s not the same child any more.”
In addition, police found more than 46,000 photos and 11,600 videos of child pornography on the accused’s devices.
According to a report presented to the court by the Crown, Michaud poses an above-average risk to society. The accused has “intellectual limitations” and “neurodevelopmental issues,” the report states.
“He still has a lot of work to do to understand the harm he has caused,” said Crown prosecutor Karine Lagacé-Paquette.
Michaud addressed the court by videoconferencing, saying he feels a great deal of “sadness and regret” over his crimes. “I never want to destroy anyone else’s life again.”
That is why both parties recommended Michaud serve 12 years in prison. This is a “significant sentence that reflects the extreme objective gravity” of the crimes, said his attorney, Diane Chartier.
For two decades, he will be prohibited from communicating with children, visiting parks or schools, or holding a job involving minors under the age of 16. He will also be required to refrain from using social media.
Local Journalism Initiative