How Could You? Hall of Shame-Ronald and Sherilee Slatter/Canada UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Bloomfield, Prince Edward County, Ontario, 63-year-old foster parent Ronald Slatter has been charged with sexual assault, sexual interference and sexual exploitation. The alleged incidents occurred in 2009 with a female foster child. He was charged in February 2012. He had a court appearance on February 29, 2012.

His next court appearance is June 20, 2012.

 

Sources:

Child sex assault charge in County

[Intelligencer 2/6/12]

More foster parent charges coming: official

[Intelligencer 6/18/12 by Jason Miller]

 

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: “[I]n June of this year, O-P-P were contacted by two girls who said they had been sexually assaulted in separate incidents at another foster home in 2007 and 2010.

Thirty-four year-old Shirley [sic] Slatter of Sudbury and 63-year old Ronald Slatter of Bloomfield have been arrested in connection with those incidents.”

3 former foster parents arrested on child sex charges

[Quinte News 11/3/12]

“Sherilee Slatter, 34, of Sudbury, faces charges of sexual assault, conspiracy  to commit an indictable offence, distributing child pornography and two counts  of sexual exploitation.

Ronald Slatter, 63, of Bloomfield, has been charged with sexual assault,  sexual interference and sexual exploitation.”

Charges laid in alleged sex assaults of Bloomfield foster home kids

[CTV 1110/12 by The Canadian Press]

“In June of this year a female disclosed she had been sexually assaulted in 2007 while she was living in a foster home in Bloomfield.  An arrest warrant was issued for the accused who had since moved out of the area, but was located this week and arrested. Sherilee SLATTER age 34yrs of Sudbury, Ontario faces the following charges: • Sexual Assault • Conspiracy to Commit and Indictable Offence • Distributing Child Pornography • Two counts of Sexual Exploitation Sherilee SLATTER will appear in Picton court on the 05th of December.

In June of this year a teenage girl disclosed she had been sexually assaulted in 2010 while she was living in a foster home in Bloomfield.  An arrest warrant was issued for the accused who was arrested today. Ronald SLATTER age 63yrs of Bloomfield faces the following charges: • Sexual Assault • Sexual Interference • Sexual Exploitation Ronald SLATTER will appear in Picton court on the 28th of November.

Prince Edward OPP Reports – 2012

[County Live]

Update 2:“A former Bloomfield foster parent has been found guilty of numerous sex-related charges.

Justice Wolf Tausendfreund found Sherilee Slatter, 35, guilty of one count of sexual exploitation and one count of sexual assault stemming from allegations that first arose in 2005 when she was the foster mother of a 15-year-old boy. Her married name at the time was Sherilee Fildey.

Slatter was also found guilty of one count of invitation to sexual touching linked to her abuse of a 15-year-old girl, who was a foster child in the home of Slatter’s father, back in 2008.

Both teen victims were wards of the now-defunct Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society. The Highland Shores CAS now covers the areas once managed by societies in Prince Edward, Hastings and Northumberland Counties. The merger was triggered by a government investigation which found appalling instances of neglect, lapses in oversight and an overall dysfunctional Prince Edward County entity.

Friday’s verdict happened in Picton’s Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

Slatter, now residing in Sudbury, will be sentenced January 23.

The first set of allegations were that Slatter had sexual intercourse with a foster boy on five occasions during the spring and summer of 2005 in her home in Bloomfield. In 2005 she gave a statement to the OPP saying she was sexually assaulted by the boy on three occasions, the court heard during trial.

The judge ruled that if that was true she would have done something to protect herself after the first time. Evidence heard during the trial indicated she did nothing and did not report it until the boy told his girlfriend what was going on and the girlfriend confronted Slatter.

The judge also found that in 2008, while Slatter was living in her father’s home in Bloomfield, she invited a 15-year-old foster girl into her room, gave her liquor and then convinced her to use a sex toy while streaming it on a web cam to a man in California with whom Slatter was in a relationship.

Assistant Crown attorney Jodi Whyte confirmed Friday there is a “possibility of one more trial of a former foster parent from Bloomfield.”

In addition, Slatter’s former husband, Richard Fildey, was also convicted in August of this year of sexually abusing a foster girl in 2004.

Whyte also confirmed that “t

he appeal of the case involving a former foster (73-year-old) father who was convicted in 2012 is to be heard by the Ontario Court of Appeal on Jan. 7.”

Sherilee Slatter is the fifth foster parent to be convicted of sexually abusing foster children in Prince Edward County.”

Former foster parent guilty [Intellgencer 12/12/14 by Jason Miller]

Update 3:”The fate of a Bloomfield foster parent found guilty of a series of sex-related charges will be determined in February.

In December 2014, 35-year-old Sherilee Slatter was found guilty of one count of sexual exploitation and one count of sexual assault all stemming from allegations that surfaced in 2005 when she was the foster mother of a 15-year-old boy. She was also found guilty of one count of sexual touching linked to abuse of a 15-year-old girl who was in the foster care of Slatter’s father in 2008.

Today, Crown Attorney Jodi Whyte requested Justice Wolf Tausenfreund sentence Slatter to a total of six-to-eight years in a penitentiary. Three of those concurrently for the abuse against the young girl. Whyte says the sentence would fit given the breach of trust. She says the children were taken from their home to be protected and then were abused again.

Defense lawyer Justin Guile suggested Slater serve a global sentence of two-to-three years. He says although Slatter’s conduct was reprehensible there was no evidence she was violent or threatened the victims in anyway.

He went on to say Slatter is living in Sudbury now and she has a new life with a fiancee and two young children. He says Slatter’s actions were part of a past life when she was married to Richard Fildey.

Fildey was convicted in August 2014 of sexually abusing a foster girl in 2004. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Justice Tausenfreund will hand down his verdict in the Slatter case at the Quinte Consolidated courthouse on February 5 at 9:30 a.m.”

Foster parent to be sentenced February 5[Quinte News 1/23/15]

Update 4:”A former Bloomfield foster parent has been sentenced to three years in jail.

Sherilee Slatter was sentenced Thursday morning by Justice Wolf Tausendfreund in Belleville.

In December, Slatter was found guilty of sexual exploitation and sexual assault stemming from allegations that first arose in 2005 when she was the foster mother of a 15-year-old boy. Her married name at the time was Sherilee Fildey.

Slatter had also been found guilty of one count of invitation to sexual touching linked to her abuse of a 15-year-old girl, who was a foster child in the home of Slatter’s father, back in 2008.

Slatter is now in her mid-30s, she lives in Sudbury with her partner and two young children.

Aside from her three years in custody, Slatter has also been ordered to provide DNA for the national DNA bank.

She will also be registered on both the provincial and federal sex offender registry.

Both teen victims were wards of the now-defunct Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society. The Highland Shores CAS now covers the areas once managed by the societies in Prince Edward, Hastings and Northumberland Counties. The merger was triggered by a government investigation which found instances of neglect, lapses in oversight and an overall dysfunctional Prince Edward County entity.

Assistant Crown Attorney Jodi Whyte had suggested Slatter serve between six and eight years in custody while the defence suggested between two and three.

Tausendfreund said although the crimes took place during another stage in her life and “she has moved on,” the assaults represent, with respect to the male victim, a “concerted breach of trust.”

He also said there were five sexual encounters between Slatter and the male victim, some of which took place when he was 15-years-old, but it is unclear how many occurred before or after he turned 16.

“The significance of (him) turning 16, is once he turned 16 he was then in a legal position to consent,” said Tausendfreund.

The judge also said the male victim disclosed his sexual encounters with Slatter “when and to whom it suited him, he was not shy about it.”

“What he did not do, however, was to mention it or to complain to his Children’s Aid Society worker or to anyone from the CAS. When the OPP investigated the matter in 2005, he told police he did not want to proceed with charges,” he said. “In fact, no further action was taken by the OPP and the matter lay dormant for seven years.”

In 2012, he said, the male learned other former foster children were moving ahead with civil actions for damages – against the CAS – based on alleged abuse on them while they were in foster care.

“He decided he would like to be part of such a claim for damages, which prompted him to speak to police again, and these charges followed.”

Tausendfreund said the most troubling aspect of Slatter’s involvement with the male victim was the fact she was a foster parent to him at the time.

“That I find to be an egregious breach of trust by her. That was a breach of a trust she owed not only to (victim) but also to the Prince Edward County Children’s Aid Society and to the entire system,” he said.

The incident with the female victim occurred in June 2008 when Slatter, who’s marriage had broken up, lived with her parents – who were also foster parents. The victim was a foster child in the care of Slatter’s parents.

“She made the arrangement….plied the complainant with alcohol and encouraged her (victim) to fondle herself. The complainant, years later, is still embarrassed and mortified about her actions which unfolded entirely and only as a result of the encouragement of the accused and in a setting which she had arranged.””

Former foster mom gets three years[Intelligencer 2/5/15 by Emily Mountney-Lessard]

Update 5: “A  SURPRISE DECISION WAS MADE TODAY IN THE SEX ASSAULT TRIAL OF A FORMER FOSTER PARENT.
THE CROWN ATTORNEY HAS “STAYED” THE CHARGES AGAINST 66-YEAR-OLD RONALD SLATTER. SLATER WAS SUPPOSED TO BE THE THIRD PERSON TO STAND TRIAL AT THE COUNTY COURTHOUSE IN PICTON …. ON CHARGES OF SEXUAL ASSAULT, SEXUAL INTERFERENCE AND SEXUAL EXPLOITATION IN CONNECTION WITH INCIDENTS FROM 2010. THEY ALLEGEDLY INVOLVED A YOUNG PERSON AT A FOSTER HOME IN BLOOMFIELD. SLATER’S DAUGHTER AND HER FORMER HUSBAND ARE ALREADY SERVING TIME BEHIND BARS FOR SEX OFFENCES INVOLVING FOSTER CHILDREN. THE PROSECUTOR SAYS “STAYING” THE CHARGES AGAINST SLATER WAS DONE IN THE INTERESTS OF THE COMPLAINANT AND THE ACCUSED. THE PROSECUTOR ADDS THE CHARGES CAN STILL BE RE-ACTIVATED WITHIN A YEAR.”

Charges stayed in foster care abuse case[CKWSTV 2/23/15 ]