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Summary

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DIAL-A-PERVERT

Man-boy sex hotline outrages vice cops

Stories by KAREN HIEBERT-PAULS

Sun Staff Writer

Winnipeg police are warning parents a phone line for men wanting sex with children may soon be operating in Manitoba.

The toll-free line, supposedly permitting people who advocate sex between men and kids to voice support, would actually be recruiting kids while servicing pedophiles.

This is one of the most horrific things I’ve ever heard of, Winnipeg police vice Insp. Ray Johns said yesterday.

It’s very sick. If they get kids phoning from here and it turns out to be an introduction service for adults wanting sex with kids, it would be disastrous.

Gary Rhindress, 29, told Toronto media he’s angry his Boys and Men’s Sex Rights Group phone line was shut down yesterday.

He said he’s done nothing wrong — he’s just trying to recruit members to his group, which is fighting to have the laws changed so it’s legal for children of any age to have sex with adults.

Rhindress said he’s now planning a 1-800 line across Canada.

‘Thinly-velled Invitation’

But London Police Supt. Jim Balmain — who’s in charge of one of Canada’s largest pedophile investigations — said the phone line is a thinly-veiled invitation to get into pedophilia and have sex with kids. There’s no doubt it’s a child prostitution ring and child exploitation.

Toronto Metro Police’s morality squad is investigating Rhindress’s venture, but it’s unlikely charges will be laid form some time.

We don’t have evidence that shows he has a collection of children being abused, Det. John Ferguson said.

Johns said local cops will be watching for the phone line. He warned parents to find out who their kids are calling.

Manitoba Telephone System spokesperson June Kirby said Rhindress will not get a 1-800 number in this province, but he could get a 1-900 number because regulations vary for the different services.

Rhindress was convicted in 1989 of sexually assaulting a six-year-old boy after befriending him through a Kitchener, Ont., support group for single parents. He had volunteered to be in charge of child care.

SEX WITH KIDS DISGUSTS MOST GAYS, ACTIVIST SAYS

Winnipeg’s gay community has mixed reactions about a phone line for men wanting sex with kids.

There’s a small minority who agrees with sex with minors, but the majority of the gay community finds pedophilia totally sick and revolting, gay rights activist Mark Zoldy said.

I believe anyone under the age of 18 should be protected from adults. Children cannot consent with full knowledge of what that’s all about.

Toronto resident Gary Rhindress plans to establish a 1-800 phone line to recruit members to his Boys and Men’s Sex Rights Group.

He said the group will merely fight to change the laws so children of any age can have sex. But police say it’s an open invitation to child prostitution.

This fellow in Toronto is the lowest form of life on the earth. I’m not going to stand around and let any child be in any danger — ever, Zoldy said.

If it’s introduced in Manitoba, I’ll expose it. I’ll be outside with a picket line.

But gay activist Chris Vogel — who made headlines in June when he defended a book about pedophilia at the Winnipeg Gay/Lesbian Resource Centre — said Rhindress is no danger to young Winnipeggers because people won’t take him seriously.

It won’t constitute a public danger because nobody will have anything to do with him. It would be like getting near someone with a loaded firearm, he said.