Predators likely no stranger to children they prey on: experts

Parents are being reminded about an unsettling reality most predators aren't strangers and are well known to their victims.

CBC News spoke to two experts about the issue in light of charges laid against Winnipeg firefighter and jiu-jitsu instructor Manuel Ruiz.

• Firefighter charged with sexually abusing 3 young women
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Ruiz, 52, faces a slew of charges, including sexual assault of a child, forcible confinement and luring a child. The alleged offences date back to 2001. The chargeshave not been proven in court.

Luna Wanda Galdamessaid she was just a child when she met Manuel Ruiz through the Chilean community.

She said Ruiz groomed her since she was very young. "He was very patient and like most predators they stalk their pray and he can be quite frightening."

Ruiz was arrested after three womenwho were 12 to 18 years oldat the timeaccused him of incidents of sexual abuse spanning the past 16 years. More than a dozen people have contacted Winnipeg police about Ruiz since he was arrested last week,including Galdames.

Difficult to spot

The Canadian Centre for Child Protection said spotting a predator can be difficult.

"A lot of times, the people who are very successful at gaining access to a child in this manner are exactly the people that we'd trust with our children," said the centre's general counsel Monique St. Germain.

"It's really not possible to sort of look at someone and say, 'That's a predator!'"

St. Germain said grooming is a gradual process that starts with a predator gaining the trust of a child and sometimes the adults around the kid. This allows the predator to get alone time with the child where boundaries may be tested, like touching that may be normal but progress into sexual touching.

• 3 women sought protection orders against firefighter
• Sheldon Kennedy says sharing information critical to child protection

Former NHL hockey player turned child advocate Sheldon Kennedy said he believes one of the biggest myths is that predators are strangers.

"What did I learn in school? Stranger danger and it's the farthest thing from the truth," he said.

Kennedy said out of the more than 6,500 investigations conducted at the Sheldon Kennedy Child Advocacy Centre, only two per cent involved a stranger.

'Many don't tell until they are adults'

St. Germain said it's common for victims to not speak up until years after being abused,because they fear they won't be believed.

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"Many people don't tell until they are adults, so that's not uncommon."

Galdames said she didn't speak up for fear she wouldn't be believed Ruiz was a firefighter and well-known in the community.

St. Germain said good resources are available to parents onlineabout predators.