Fourteen victims. Teenage girls are lured by modeling contracts. High school friends are attracted to sexual “challenges.” Jean-Sébastien Béland, a repeat offender, sexually abused young girls for years and exploited his aura as the head of a modeling agency.
Posted at 3:35 p.m.
The trial against the 51-year-old from Trois-Rivières was scheduled to open next Monday for a period of three months. However, Jean-Sébastien Béland pleaded guilty to around thirty counts in the Montreal court on Friday. He faces a lengthy prison sentence and possibly a long-term or dangerous criminal offense.
Jean-Sébastien promised his victims an international career as a model and the receipt of important orders. He had a way of making his prey feel beautiful and “special.” He then enticed her to perform sexual acts in exchange for money under various pretexts. But in the background, the victim had hope for a career.
One of his modus operandi was to demand “massages” from his victims and then take advantage of their naivety or influence to abuse them. Another trick was “challenges”. He then gave the young girl hundreds of dollars after the sexual act. A way to make “easy money,” he said.
Dip your hand in oil and place it on a leaf. For Jean-Sébastien Béland, this was “proof of consent”. This is what he wanted to do to a 16-year-old victim under his supervision who had just performed oral sex on him. Like so many others, he had recruited this young girl into his modeling agency.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE SPVM
Jean-Sébastien Beland
Another victim, also 16 years old, dreams of becoming a model. She takes part in castings for the BModels agency. The boss, Jean-Sébastien Béland, boasts of having helped several girls achieve international breakthroughs. He encourages the dreaming teenager to overcome sexual “challenges.” She then has to sign documents to “certify” that she accepts the challenges.
“The more you please me, the more I will please you. So ! »
This statement from Jean-Sébastien Béland sums up his relationship with the teenager he calls “my bunny” and “my love”. When she gets a “big job” as a model, she has to overcome more “challenges,” a euphemism for paid sexual services.
While a “massage” nets the victim $100, Béland pays more for other gestures, such as a masturbation session. Sometimes he asks the victim to pull a piece of paper from a large box full of banknotes.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, THE PRESS
Jean-Sébastien Beland
Another teenager’s dream was shattered by Jean-Sébastien Béland. The 15-year-old girl catches the eye of the agency boss. He tells her that he sees something “rare in her.” But to get international contracts, she has to be “cooler” and “rebellious.” That was the first time he attacked her.
To discuss the contract, Béland goes with the teenager to an argument in the countryside. He tells her that he has spent a lot of money on his career. She feels forced to obey and masturbates him in disgust. The teenager then signed a modeling contract with him.
Such stories of broken dreams and abused teenagers are numerous in the thirty-page summary of facts submitted to the court.
Three high school friends among the victims
Jean-Sébastien Béland also took advantage of three friends from the same high school in Lanaudière. His first victim, whom he met through a job offer on Kijiji, provided him with sexual services for two years. They often met after school, not far away. The teenager was still wearing her school uniform.
Jean-Sébastien Béland is manipulative: He promises the teenager that he will set up a modeling agency with her. He invites her to a chalet and organizes a photo shoot with a professional photographer.
“He puts pressure on her to bring other friends in the form of “challenges,” which she does on multiple occasions,” the statement of facts summarizes. Two of the teenager’s friends also fall into the predator’s clutches.
Jean-Sébastien Béland was sentenced to 45 days in prison in 2010 for sexually exploiting a teenage girl on weekends. Since then, he has been prohibited from assuming a position of authority over minors. Despite this designation as a sex offender, he was able to continue his activities without any problems.
The criminal managed to cover his tracks in various ways, in particular by entering the name of a false managing director in the commercial register. La Presse revealed in 2019 that Béland had such a fortune after winning the Loto-Québec Gagnant à vie lottery.
I Camille Boucher and I Delphine Mauger represent the prosecutor, while I Julien Lspérance Hudon defends the defendant. The file will be back next March.