In his public life, James Willard loved to coach, and now numbers some well-known National Hockey League players as his former protégés.
But the short, stocky man had a dark side that he kept from the hockey leagues and from the parents of children on his teams -- he was attracted to young boys and acted on his desire.
His long history of sexually assaulting young boys and of disregarding probation orders that he have no contact with minors was itemized in a Toronto court yesterday where he has pleaded guilty to possessing, distributing and accessing child pornography.
When he was arrested in March, 2003, police discovered more than 2,000 child porn images on his computer, as well as stories involving child pornography.
There were also 161 video clips, of which 118 were of children under the age of 14 engaged in explicit sex acts. Some of the children were under five.
The 58-year-old former coach told Mr. Justice Arthur Gans of the Ontario Superior Court that he loved to coach, not because it brought him into contact with young children, but for its own sake.
He refused to reveal the names of his former players who made it to the NHL, saying he did not wish to embarrass them.
In the 1990s, after a stint in jail for sexually assaulting an 11-year-old boy, he kept mum about his criminal past and coached five Toronto-area boys teams.
They were the Scarborough Sabres Hockey Team (aged 11 to 12), Leaside (aged 8), Don Mills Flyers (aged 12), Goulding Park (aged 11 to 12), and Ted Reeve (aged 11 to 12).
He was 26 when he was convicted of his first criminal offence and jailed for three months for fondling a prepubescent boy who lived on his street.
Between 1984 and 1989, he was charged with sexually assaulting boys who were between the ages of 9 and 13 in both Toronto and Montreal.
His stays in jail were short and most of the re-offences occurred while he was under a court order to avoid all contact with minors.
Mr. Willard was arrested after Toronto police were contacted by an undercover police officer from New Hampshire.
The American officer had posed as a 14-year-old boy and chatted on-line with Mr. Willard, receiving some pornographic material from him. Mr. Willard passed himself off as a 34-year-old man.
In an e-mail, part of which was read out in court yesterday, Mr. Willard told the boy he wanted to have cybersex on-line with him. And he added: "I even hope we can meet some day and make romantic sex with you 4 hours ... I will teach you all about sex too.
"I taught young boys about gay sex too."
Mr. Willard told Judge Gans that he used child pornography "for my sexual gratification" so that he would not molest boys as he had done in the past.
Under questioning from his lawyer Richard Posner, Mr. Willard explained that he did not think that possessing and distributing pornography was illegal.
"I felt I wasn't doing any harm," he stated repeatedly.
Crown attorney Mary Humphrey is seeking a penitentiary sentence of three to four years.
But credit for the 11 months he has been in jail on the regular two-for-one basis would significantly reduce his prison time.
The hearing resumes March 25.