A Winnipeg small business owner has been convicted of sexually exploiting two vulnerable 13-year-old girls.
Michael Edward Bruce, 43, was convicted after trial of 11 sex-related offences, including luring, in connection to the two girls as well as a 19-year-old woman.
Bruce, who operated an HVAC business at the time of the 2022 offences, will be sentenced at a later date.
His trial was told Bruce had contacted a woman who lived in the Charles Walk area, in the North End, in April 2022 to arrange to have sex with her in exchange for work he had completed. The woman instead provided him with contact details for a 13-year-old girl.
Bruce contacted the girl over Facebook and arranged to have sex with her in his pickup truck in exchange for $20 and a case of Twisted Tea alcoholic drinks.
The girl’s grandmother learned about the sexual assault and contacted police. The girl provided two video statements but later died as the result of a drug overdose.
Court heard testimony Bruce had sex with the second 13-year-old girl, who was in foster care, as payment for giving her a ride home.
The adult victim testified Bruce sexually assaulted her in his truck when she was intoxicated and slipping in and out of consciousness.
Bruce testified he believed the first girl was 17 years old and claimed the sex was consensual, as was the sex with the adult victim. He denied having sex with the second 13-year-old girl.
King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond rejected Bruce’s testimony as “argumentative, resistant, evasive, and at times, flippant and sarcastic.”
“I was left with the impression that he expected that he would be believed because he is a mature businessperson and that the complainants would not be believed because they are young and were up to no good,” Bond said.
When one of the girls threatened to report him to police, Bruce admitted he had told her, “who are they going to believe — a gang member or a homeowner?”
“Mr. Bruce brought that same attitude with him to the witness stand,” Bond said.
Bruce was arrested in June 2022, but not charged until the following September after Winnipeg police completed a lengthy analysis of his electronic devices.
Police did not go public with Bruce’s arrest until November 2023, at which time they appealed to any other potential victims to come forward.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.
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