BC United slams 'despicable failure' after child sex offender accused of reoffending

B.C.’s official Opposition is slamming the NDP government after a child sex offender – who was supposed to be under supervision – was allegedly able to molest another child.

Taylor Dueck, 29, is charged with several offences, including sexual touching, involving an 11-year-old girl at an equestrian centre in Kelowna last month.

It’s alleged the incident took place while Dueck’s supervisor, working for an organization funded by Community Living B.C., sat outside in a car.

“This NDP government apparently thought that not only was it a good idea to give this pedophile free horseback riding lessons, they decided to book those lessons at a riding camp that was easily identifiable as a venue for children,” said BC United Leader Kevin Falcon during question period in the legislature.

“Who is going to be fired for this utterly despicable failure to keep our children safe?”

The owner of the equestrian centre where the alleged incident took place told CTV News she only allowed the man into her program after she was told he was a “vulnerable member of the community” and a “wonderful person.”

She said she now feels lied to and misled.

“I was absolutely horrified and outraged somebody like that was ever bought to us,” said the woman, who did not want to be identified to protect the identity of the child involved.

“I feel like we were all put directly in harms way. Honestly, my trust of government programs was violated, exploited and taken advantage of."

The equestrian owner said on the day in question, the accused was there for about two hours, and that the person she later learned was supposed to be supervising him was sitting in the car most of that time.

Kelowna-Mission MLA Renee Merrifield said Dueck was meant to have "one-to-one supervision at all times," and "was never to be around children."

Premier David Eby said it took a profound lack of judgement for someone to put a repeat sex offender into the equestrian centre “and sit in the car, on the phone, and not do the one job that was supposed to be done here.”

“At every level, this was a massive failure of judgement,” Eby said. “For CLBC to take on responsibility for someone with a criminal record like this, for them to subcontract that responsibility to an obviously negligent and incompetent subcontractor, for that person who had one job to do – make sure this individual was not in contact with any children – to fail at that job."

CLBC did not return calls from CTV News, but did respond by email.

“We'd like to state that this horrific incident should never have happened,” wrote Cris Leykauf from CLBC. “Whenever a service provider is working with someone involved in the criminal justice system, it is CLBC’s expectation that the service providers work closely with the probation officers to ensure that their staff are doing what they can to secure everyone’s safety. We have placed the service provider’s contract under review and will be participating fully in the investigation the government has launched."

CLBC said the person Dueck was with on the day in question was the employee of a contracted service provider who is not currently supervising anyone else on court ordered conditions.

Dueck was previously denied parole in 2022 after being deemed a high risk to reoffend.

The premier said an investigation into what happened in Kelowna is underway.

Meanwhile, the equestrian centre owner said she’s spent years working to ensure her facility is a place where kids are safe.

“It’s not just a kids' program, it’s a place where parents are extremely trusting that it’s a healthy, safe place for their kids to be. And I’ve spent my entire career creating that and trusted a government agency that took that away from all of us,” she said.