The path that led John Wrenshall from the basement of an Anglican church in Calgary to a house on the outskirts of Bangkok underlines how hard it is to keep track of convicted child molesters once they resettle in another jurisdiction.
Mr. Wrenshall, a 62-year-old Canadian who taught English in Bangkok, was arrested this week after being indicted in a New Jersey court on 18 counts related to child prostitution and abetting sex tourism.
Already, he had been convicted twice in Calgary after admitting to sex-related charges involving as many as 20 young boys he met as a scout master and church choir member.
Experts say that what's known about Mr. Wrenshall, an aging computer enthusiast with a checkered past who suddenly relocated to Southeast Asia to teach English, ought to have raised a series of obvious red flags – had any federal agency been paying attention.
“Where is Canada? This is a problem,” said Rosalind Prober, president of Beyond Borders, a group fighting child prostitution.
Often with repeat offenders, “if they run out of room in their own country, they're going to go to another country. They're going to go where there's anonymity, corruption and enablers,” she said.
Mr. Wrenshall wouldn't even have needed to go through the Thai embassy in Ottawa to get his entry papers. A working permit could be obtained directly from the Thai Ministry of Labour, an embassy official said.
Since his students were adults, Mr. Wrenshall also didn't have to provide the criminal-record checks and character references normally required from teachers.
Mr. Wrenshall's criminal past wouldn't have been readily accessible to an employer in Thailand.
The office of the Alberta Solicitor-General said Wednesday it could not give any information about Mr. Wrenshall's correctional history due to privacy regulations.
The civil suits which five of his victims filed against him were sealed after he settled with them.
After his first conviction in Canada in 1970, Mr. Wrenshall received a suspended sentence. After reoffending, he was convicted again in July of 1997. After a joint recommendation from the Crown and defence, he got a one-year sentence.
By the time he would have finished his sentence, Mr. Wrenshall went to Vancouver and obtained a Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults, according to his résumé.
An entry-level credential, CELTA can be obtained through a full-time course that lasts no more than a month. No final exam is required.
Mr. Wrenhall then headed to Asia, where he had travelled before, as far back as 1991.
“Who was paying attention to him when he was going to fly to Thailand? Even today there's nobody that would prevent anyone from going on a plane and leaving,” said Paul Gillespie, a retired Toronto Police child-exploitation detective.
He added that the allegations in the case made him think: “How did this guy stay under the radar?”
Reaching Mr. Wrenshall's residence in Thailand involves travelling a maze of cement lanes past rice fields, lotus blossoms, egrets, the occasional Buddhist temple and utilitarian slabs of light-industrial buildings.
Few foreigners live in the area, across the Chao Phraya River on the northwest outskirts of Bangkok.
His choice of residence suggested he was trying to live as inexpensively as possible, while teaching English at Bangkok's prestigious A.U.A. Language Center, which required a commute of one hour or more each way.
Mr. Wrenshall allegedly arranged for Americans to sexually abuse “prepubescent” boys in a home near Bangkok, for payment, between 2000 and 2002, according to his indictment and evidence in U.S. courts.
During those years, however, Mr. Wrenshall may have lived elsewhere.
“He never brought other children here,” said a Thai woman in the clean, modern, two-storey, isolated house where Mr. Wrenshall rented a room while living with a Thai family and their children.
Mr. Wrenshall's room was decorated with family photos, books about teaching English and a framed degree, his 1971 University of Calgary Master of Arts in sociology “with a specialization in complex organization.”
Photos showed Mr. Wrenshall partying with several Westerners, men, women and children, alongside a fireplace and a Christmas tree, while they read The Night Before Christmas and opened presents.
A caption on a photo of holly with candles included a handwritten note: “John, a Christmas memento with so many thanks for your constant and willing help. X X X X Joan.”
With reports from Colin Freeze in Toronto and Dawn Walton in Calgary
