How Could You? Hall of Shame-Canada -Howard Wayne Jones and Way-J Boys Ranch 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 Copetown, Ontario, Canada, “police are investigating sexual assault complaints involving foster children at the former Way-J Boys Ranch of Copetown on Powerline Road East almost 40 years ago.

According to Detective Dave Oleniuk, a victim came to Hamilton police a few months ago and said he was sexually assaulted as a youth staying at the boys’ home between 1969 and 1972. There are no other victims known to police at this time.” They estimate that up to a half-dozen boys were there at any given time. Thankfully, there is no statute of limitations on criminal offenses in Canada. Police are searching for other victims. There is “an inference that there is at least one other victim.”

The current land owners do not have anything to do with the case. Local organizations do not have records of the Ranch. A photograph is available at the link below. “Anyone recognizing the home, who was employed or resided there between 1969 and 1972, is asked to contact Detective Dave Oleniuk of the Hamilton Police Service Victims of Crime Unit at 905-540-5543.”

Police probe decades-old child abuse allegations
[The Spec 5/31/11 by John Burman, and Stacey Escott]

Update: “Police said Thursday Howard Wayne Jones, 68, is now facing three charges indecent assault on a male and three counts of gross indecency in relation to incidents at the Bennetto Community Centre pool in Hamilton in 1967, a private home in Hamilton in 1968 and the Way-J-Boys Ranch in 1969.”

“Police did not say what those complaints involved.

Sergeant Terri-Lynn Collings said investigators believe there may be more victims involved with at the Bennetto pool.

Jones, who was arrested on a Hamilton police warrant at his home by RCMP in Salmon Arm, B.C., on Aug 8 had been already charged with indecent assault on a male and gross indecency.

These charges relate to offences in 1969 and therefore are titled as they were under the Criminal Code as it stood at that time. He has no prior convictions.”

“Police did say he volunteered at a drop-in centre for neighbourhood kids run out of St. Luke’s parish in the north end of Hamilton, prior to his involvement at the ranch in 1969. It’s believed the building burned down in 1970. No allegations have been made with regard to this location.”

“The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) and the Catholic Children’s Aid Society (CCAS) have no records of organizations dating back to the 1960s making it difficult to identify other potential victims.

“We have records that go back to the early 1900s, but we track individuals, not residences, “ Dominic Verticchio, executive director, CAS of Hamilton said in May. “The recordkeeping of today’s standards is night and day to what it was in the ‘60s.”

Detective Dave Oleniuk asks for any other victims to call him at 905-5405543

More sex charges against former boys’ ranch operator
[The Spec 9/1/11 by John Burman]

Update 2:“A man who once ran a boys’ foster home in rural Ancaster has been convicted on charges in a historic sex abuse case police believe has more victims.

Howard Wayne Jones, now 70, pleaded guilty Friday to two counts of indecent assault — as it was called in the Criminal Code in the 1960s – for attacks on two victims at his Way-J Boys Ranch in Copetown.

Eight other charges were withdrawn.

Ontario Court Justice Bernd Zabel handed Jones the equivalent of a 40-month sentence, crediting him at time-and-a-half for the 27 months and four days he served in pre-trial custody. Zabel ordered that Jones serve one more day in jail before being released.

Jones, who had no prior convictions, is also required to provide a DNA sample and will be placed on the sexual offenders’ registry for 20 years.

Little is known about Jones before he ran the foster home, police said.

He once volunteered at a kids’ drop-in centre run out of St. Luke’s parish in the city’s North End.

In the hope that it may help someone remember, police have again released a black and white photo of the now defunct boys’ ranch on Powerline Road East.

The farm has since been renovated and the new owners of the property have no connection to Jones.

The Way-J Boys Ranch operated more than 40 years ago and could foster up to eight boys between the ages of 10 to 14.

Police say the home ran for only a short time, from about March to September 1969. The Children’s Aid Society (CAS) and the Catholic Children’s Aid Society (CCAS) have no record of it.

When it closed, Jones moved to British Columbia and held jobs in various cities, including as a building superintendent. He found a home in the community of Salmon Arm until the summer of 2011 when he was arrested by RCMP on a Canada-wide warrant issued in Hamilton. The charges followed complaints about the ranch that had surfaced early that spring.

Investigators are asking anyone with more information to contact Detective Dave Oleniuk at 905-546-3874.”

Former owner of Copetown ‘ranch’ for boys is guilty of sex assault [Metro 11/21/13]

“A British Columbia man who last week pleaded guilty to a decades-old sexual assault in Ancaster is already out of prison.

 

Howard Wayne Jones, 68, was arrested in August of 2011 in Salmon Arm B.C. by the RCMP, who were acting on a Canada-wide warrant issued in Hamilton and brought to the city for trial.

 

Police say he was arrested in connection with assaults that happened from 1969 to 1972 at a property on Powerline Road in Ancaster. Back then, the property was known as the Way-J Boys Ranch of Copetown, and was a group home for foster children.

“He was the operator,” said Det. Dave Oleniuk of Hamilton police. “He set up the foster home and took in kids from various agencies.”

 

Jones also worked as a lifeguard and was involved in other youth organizations in the Hamilton area around that time, Oleniuk says.

 

“He was a predator who constructed his whole life around gaining access to 12-year-old boys,” he said.

 

On Friday, Jones pleaded guilty to two counts of indecent assault, which sexual assault was called in the criminal code at the time the offences happened. He had been in custody since his arrest and was sentenced to time served – the equivalent of 40 months in jail.

 

Now he’s out of jail – though he will remain on the sex offender registry for 20 years and was required to provide a DNA sample to police.

 

Oleniuk says he isn’t exactly sure of Jones’ whereabouts, but he “expects he was going back to B.C.”

 

Police believe there are several more victims, Oleniuk says. He’s received hesitant phone messages from people describing details of other alleged assaults, but not leaving their names. When the numbers were traced, they led back to a pay phone, he said.

 

The family of a dead man also came forward with information after the charges against Jones were first announced, but no formal charges were filed because the man had passed away.

 

“There is no doubt in my mind that there are more victims,” Oleniuk said, adding that if Jones were to be convicted on subsequent sex assault charges, he would be jailed again.

 

“That’s why I really suggest anyone who has information to come forward,” he said.

 

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 905-540-5553.”

B.C. man guilty of 1970s sex assaults already out of jail [CBC 11/20/13 by Adam Carter]

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