Abduction of Kamloops teens nets offender 5 years in prison, lifetime sex offender status

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A 34-year-old man has been handed a five-year jail sentence for abducting two teenaged girls in Kamloops.

Janos Juckiewicz took them to Vancouver Island in the spring of 2024, planning to start a new life with the 14- and 15-year-old girls he had sexually assaulted multiple times for weeks. Knowing police would be looking for them, he tried and failed to hide their locations and was caught in the Nanaimo area.

Kamloops judge Roy Dickey said Juckiewicz had “limited insight” into his crimes and tried to “minimize” his actions when he was assessed by a psychiatrist as he handed down a five-year sentence on Nov. 4.

“Mr. Juckiewicz advised (the psychiatrist) that he regretted the situation and believed he would heal and grow from the experience,” Dickey said. “Asked how he would prevent engaging in this type of behaviour in the future, he would have to be pushed into breaking his ‘under 20 rule.’ He said he couldn’t see himself crossing that line again and would walk away from the situation.”

iNFOnews.ca spoke with one of his victim’s earlier this year, who described Juckiewicz as a “very convincing guy.”

“He wasn’t much to look at, but he had a really nice personality which gave the impression of being safe,” she said.

She was 14 years old when they met and the weeks-long ordeal left her traumatized.

“I’m scared of men, scared I might be targeted again,” she said, worried about being “manipulated” again.

Juckiewicz was 33 at the time and he eventually brought the two teens to a campsite he lived at just outside Kamloops, where he abused them numerous times.

Already serving a two-year conditional discharge for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, he planned to take them to Vancouver Island in April 2024.

“We were going to go stay with his buddy so we would have a more secure way of getting around and travelling without getting in trouble for our age difference,” one of the teens previously told iNFOnews.ca. “He said we were pulling a Jekyll and Hyde, running away causing mischief and breaking rules.”

After his arrest, Juckiewicz downplayed the harm he had on the two teens. For one of them, he said she was “already damaged” and the other he described as a “soul mate.”

“(She) got a taste of happiness, freedom and someone who cared, just to get it all taken away. I can see her being hurt by this and blaming herself for me being incarcerated. She may have a problem in future relationships and not knowing if she’s going to hurt someone else,” Dickey quoted Juckiewicz as saying, pointing to a “lack of insight” into who should be blamed.

Juckiewicz pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual interference against the teens, but the combined five-year sentence was reduced to two years and eight months after credit for time-served.

Along with a subsequent three-year probation order and numerous conditions, Dickey also ordered he be registered to the national sex offender list for life.

NOTE TO READERS: To connect with a victim service program or violence against women program call VictimLink BC at 1-800-563-0808. VictimLink BC provides information and referrals to all victims, as well as immediate crisis response to victims of sexual and family violence.