Updated Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012 at 10:45 a.m.
HALIFAX – David James Leblanc appeared in court in Bridgewater, N.S. Tuesday morning.
Leblanc arrived back in the province Friday evening on board an RCMP flight from northern Ontario.
The 47-year-old was arraigned on several charges that include kidnapping, forcible confinement, sexual assault, sexual assault causing bodily harm, uttering a death threat, administering a noxious substance with the intent to cause bodily harm and breach of conditions. He will be remanded into custody until his next court appearance on Oct. 23.
He was arrested near Longlac, Ont. on Oct. 1, after being on the run for about a week.
Leblanc is one of two men accused of holding a 16-year-old boy captive in an Upper Chelsea, N.S. residence and sexually assaulting him for about one week.
The boy escaped from a rundown cottage at 174 Faulkner Road on Sept. 24 and ran to a nearby homes for help.
He was wearing next to no clothing and had chains padlocked around his wrists and ankles.
The other suspect, 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham, was found dead last Wednesday night, within about five kilometres of where Ontario Provincial Police arrested Leblanc.
The cause of Cunningham’s death is not yet known.
When authorities arrested Leblanc he had no shoes on and light clothing. He was hospitalized, under police custody, for much of last week until he was deemed fit to fly back to N.S.
Leblanc was arrested in December 2010 on child porn and sexual assault charges. He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on those charges in November.
Updated Friday, Oct. 5 at 7:41 p.m. AT
HALIFAX – Teen confinement suspect David James Leblanc has arrived in Nova Scotia on an RCMP plane and will appear in court to face charges next week.
The plane transporting Leblanc from northern Ontario arrived at Halifax Stanfield International Airport just before 6:30 p.m. on Friday. The 47-year-old man was arrested Sunday evening near the community of Longlac.
He will be arraigned on forcible confinement and sexual assault charges Tuesday morning in Bridgewater Provincial Court.
Leblanc was one of two men accused of holding a 16-year-old boy captive and sexual assaulting him for about two weeks, in a ramshackle cottage in the community of Upper Chelsea, N.S.
The boy escaped the 174 Faulkner Road residence on the evening of Sept. 24 and ran barefoot to nearby homes for help.
He had chains padlocked around his wrists and ankles and was wearing only a hoodie, when he made it to the home of Terry Frauzel. Frauzel freed the boy and took him to the town of Bridgewater.
Leblanc’s co-accused, 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham, was found dead Wednesday evening near Longlac, about 260 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.
Ontario Provincial Police found Cunningham’s body about 250 metres away from where search teams earlier in the day found the 2003 Hyundai Elantra the two fugitives were driving. The car was on an ATV trail about 25 kilometres away from Highway 11.
The cause of Cunningham’s death is not yet known, but police do not suspect foul play.
OPP officers picked up Leblanc on the Lukinto Lake Road at about 7:30 p.m. Sunday, within a five-kilometre radius of where Cunningham’s body was discovered.
Leblanc was hospitalized, under police custody, following his arrest.
Upon arrival in Halifax, Leblanc was quickly ushered into an unmarked vehicle to be transported to Bridgewater. He’ll remain in police custody until his arraignment on Tuesday.
He was wearing a blue jumpsuit and appeared to be limping. Members of his family say he suffered frostbite while on the run in northern Ontario.
Leblanc is also facing child porn and sexual assault charges from a separate arrest in December 2010. He is due in court for a preliminary hearing on those charges in November.
Updated Thursday, Oct. 4 at 4:30 p.m. AT
Police confirm they have found the body of Wayne Alan Cunningham, the 31-year-old suspect in the Nova Scotia teen confinement case.
Members of the Greenstone detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) found the body of a man near Longlac, Ont., not far from where officers found the 2003 Hyundai Elantra Cunningham was said to be driving.
Police said Thursday the body was positively identified as Cunningham.
His body was located found at about 7:30 p.m. ET Wednesday, during a ground search by the OPP North West Region Emergency Response Team.
The Coroner’s Office and the OPP Forensic Investigation Unit are trying to determine the man’s cause of death, but police do not suspect foul play. An autopsy has not yet taken place.
Cunningham’s cousin, Amy Kempton, told Global News he was diabetic and needed to take insulin twice a day, adding the medication had to be refrigerated.
She said the family learned about the discovery of his body Wednesday night.
“It was a lot of mixed emotions,” Kempton said. “I cried. I was hurt. I was angry.”
“It was not the ending we all wanted. The family, I’m sure I speak for every family member, wanted him brought back to go through the court system,” she said.
Kempton said the family feared “it was probably going to end this way” because of his medical condition.
RCMP have not confirmed if Cunningham’s health condition was a factor in his death.
Cunningham was one of two suspects in a terrible case of teen abuse in Nova Scotia.
The other suspect, 47-year-old David James Leblanc, was arrested by police in the same area, about 260 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay, Sunday evening.
He was picked up on Lukinto Lake Road, near Longlac, after police responded to a report of a “suspicious man in distress” walking barefoot along the old logging road.
Cunningham’s vehicle was found in the same area earlier in the day Wednesday, in a wooded area about 25 kilometres off Highway 11, OPP spokesperson Acting Sgt. Anne McCoy said Thursday morning.
She described the area where search teams discovered the car and the body as “an off road vehicle and ATV type of trail.”
“It was well off the beaten path of the Lukinto area,” she added.”
RCMP said Wednesday Leblanc is in hospital, under police custody, and it’s not yet known when he will be returned to Nova Scotia to face charges of forcible confinement and sexual assault.
Mounties said he was unable to fly due to medical reasons.
Read more on the arrest of David James Leblanc below
The two men had been on the run for about one week, when the Leblanc was apprehended in Ontario and police said Cunningham maybe bound for Calgary.
A 16-year-old boy escaped from a rundown cottage in Upper Chelsea, N.S. on the evening of Sept. 24.
He was bound in chains and wearing only a hoodie when he fled to nearby houses for help.
The cottage at 174 Faulkner Road had been rented by Cunningham and Leblanc about a month earlier.
The boy alleges he was held captive for almost two weeks and repeatedly sexually assaulted.
According to Terry Frauzel, the man who cut chains and padlocks off the boy after he showed up at the Frauzel home in Chelsea, said the boy is in good condition. He met with the teen and his mother earlier this week.
RCMP would not release details about the boy’s condition.
Watch Terry Frauzel’s interview with Global’s Natasha Pace
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Updated Wednesday, Oct. 3 at 3:38 p.m. AT
HALIFAX – Ontario Provincial Police have located the car investigators believe teen confinement suspect Wayne Alan Cunningham was driving as he fled authorities.
The Greenstone detachment of the OPP found the 2003 Hyundai Elantra on an old logging road, just outside Longlac, about 260 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.
Cunningham, 31, is still on the run from authorities, more than two weeks after a Nova Scotia teen escaped captivity from a rural cottage.
The 16-year-old boy had been confined to the Upper Chelsea residence and sexually assaulted for about 10 days, when he broke free and fled to nearby homes.
He had chains shackled around his wrists and ankles, wearing only a hoodie, when he made it to the home of Terry Frauzel.
Frauzel cut the boy free and took him to the community of Bridgwater, about a half-hour away.
Police have been searching for Cunningham ever since.
The vehicle was found not far from where Cunningham’s co-accused, 47-year-old David James Leblanc, was picked up by authorities and arrested on Sunday evening.
OPP officers received a report, around 6:00 p.m. Sept. 30, of a “suspicious male in distress” wandering barefoot on an isolated road in Longlac.
Sgt. Tom Hunt said one of the arresting officers must have recognized him from photos released across the country.
Police believed Cunningham may have been headed toward Calgary.
Nova Scotia RCMP have released new photos of Cunningham – one recent image and one taken in 2006.
Meanwhile, Leblanc remains in Ontario. Mounties say he is in hospital, under police custody, and unable to be flown back to Nova Scotia due to medical reasons.
The National Parole Board released parole documents for both Cunningham and Leblanc on Tuesday. Both men were paroled early, in 2007. from a three-year federal prison sentence for a string of thefts.
The documents assessing Cunningham stated he had emotional issues surrounding his sexuality and self-esteem. View the documents here.
Updated Monday, Oct. 1 at 10:50 a.m. AT
HALIFAX – Police in northern Ontario have arrested David James Leblanc, a suspect in the Nova Scotia teen confinement case.
Leblanc, 47, has been on the run since last week, after a 16-year-old boy escaped from a cottage in Upper Chelsea, about 125 kilometres south of Halifax, bound in chains and nearly naked.
Members of the OPP arrested Leblanc in Longlac, Ont., about 260 kilometres northeast of Thunder Bay.
Sgt. Tom Hunt, of the Greenstone detachement of the OPP, said Leblanc was picked up on an “isolated bush road” on Sunday at about 6:00 p.m.
“I think one of the officers recognized him from the releases that were sent out,” he said.
Thirty-one-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham, the other suspect in the case, is still at large and media reports suggest he may be headed west toward Calgary. He is believed to be driving a grey 2003 Hyundai Elantra with Nova Scotia licence plate FBP 233.
Hunt said Leblanc was arrested without incident.
Both Leblanc and Cunningham are facing charges of sexual assault and forcible confinement.
Leblanc’s mother spoke with Global News following the news of her son’s arrest.
“He should have given up a long time ago,” Violet “Honey” Leblanc said in a phone interview.
She turned down an in-person interview, saying “I can’t cope with it because I’m not well.”
She said she had nothing to say to Cunningham, her son’s co-accused in the teen confinement and sexual assault case.
Updated Friday, Sept. 28 at 4:25 p.m. AT
RCMP have confirmed one of the vehicles associated with two suspects in the teen abuse case was found in Halifax.
A brown 2002 Chevrolet Venture was found in the city, about 125 kilometres away from the cottage where a 16-year-old boy was allegedly held captive. But, Sgt. Alain Leblanc would not specify where in Halifax the van was located.
Mounties alerted the public late Thursday afternoon that investigators believe 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham and 47-year-old David James Leblanc were travelling through Ontario in a 2003 Hyundai Elantra.
The boy broke free from the Upper Chelsea residence Monday night, still bound in chains and wearing next to no clothing and fled to nearby homes to beg for help.
Terry Frauzel told Global News on Thursday he cut the boy free of the shackles and took him to the town of Bridgewater, about 30 minutes away.
It’s not clear how authorities got in contact with the boy, but the teen said he had been held captive at 174 Faulkner Road and had been sexually assaulted for days.
Police laid forcible confinement and sexual assault charges against the pair on Wednesday.
RCMP say public tips from Ontario have led investigators to believe they may have travelled that far.
The grey 2003 Hyundai Elantra has an N.S. licence plate with the number FBP 233.
Police are asking anyone with information to contact authorities, but not to approach the men if they are seen.
Updated Thursday, September 27 at 6:17 p.m. AT
The man who cut the chains off a 16-year-old boy who fled captivity tells Global News the teen feared for his life.
More details are coming out of the disturbing case out in rural Nova Scotia. A homeless teen claims he was taken from a street in Halifax, while he slept, and was shackled and sexually assaulted for days before managing to break free.
“I couldn’t believe I was hearing this, Terry Frauzel said in an interview Thursday. “You know it’s like something you watch in the movie, but it was real life.”
The boy banged on Frauzel’s door Monday night, after smashing through a boarded up window of the Upper Chelsea, N.S. residence where he was being held. It was the second house he went to.
Updated Thursday, September 27 at 4:55 p.m. AT
Nova Scotia RCMP Sgt. Alain Leblanc confirmed investigators believe 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham and 47-year-old David James Leblanc may be in Ontario.
Alain also said the brown 2002 Chevrolet Venture van with N.S. licence plate EZG 581 was found in Nova Scotia, but he could not confirm where the vehicle was found.
The grey 2003 Hyundai Elantra has N.S. licence plate FBP 233.
Updated Thursday, September 27 at 3:50 p.m. AT
Global News has obtained court documents revealing the horrific ordeal a Nova Scotia teen went through, before escaping in chains and barely dressed from a ramshackle, boarded up cottage.
The RCMP report, obtained at the Bridgewater Provincial Court, shows the boy escaped what could have been an even more devastating fate.
According to police documents the 16-year-old was homeless and sleeping on the street in Halifax, when he was picked up by one of the alleged captors.
The boy told police he woke up in the van and was being driven to what turned out to be a residence in Upper Chelsea, 125 kilometres south. The other suspect was waiting at the 174 Faulkner Road home.
Two men – David James Leblanc, 47, and Wayne Alan Cunningham, 31 – are both facing charges of forcible confinement and sexual assault. Police have issue warrants for their arrests.
RCMP believe the boy was held for a period of 10-14 days, during which time he was repeatedly sexually assaulted.
But one of the most shocking details to come out of the investigation so far is that the teen claims he overheard the men talking about selling him.
The men left the residence: The boy was remained alone inside. He was able to escape and fled to nearby houses to beg for help.
Cst. T. S. Cole, of the Southwest Nova RCMP Major Crime Unit, writes the boy provided two names to police – “David” and “Kenny.”
The rundown cottage with boarded up windows, where the boy was chained and abused is owned by Mark Douglas Kenney, but the name on a roadside mailbox at the address reads “C Kenney.”
The two suspects in the case are believed to have moved into the house about a month ago.
Alice Arnold was the first person to have contact with the boy, after he fled barefoot more than 1.5 kilometres down a gravel road from the residence.
When she detailed her encounter with the teen in an interview with Global News Tuesday night, she said she never saw the two men who lived there.
She confirmed the house did have a for sale sign in front of it, but the sign disappeared around the time Cunningham and Leblanc are believed to have taken up residence.
Arnold also said she was familiar with the residence, but did not know the current tenants.
Mounties believe both Leblanc and Cunningham may be in either Lunenburg or Halifax counties.
Updated Thursday, September 27 at 2:08 p.m. AT
Police are still on the hunt for two men accused of being involved in the disturbing case of a 16-year-old boy allegedly being chained up and held captive in rural N.S. cottage.
RCMP issued arrest warrants Wedensday for 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham and 47-year-old David James Leblanc.
The two men have been charged with forcible confinement and sexual assault, after the boy escaped from the rundown cottage in Upper Chelsea, about 125 kilometres south of Halifax, bound in chains and wearing only a hoodie.
Mounties now say the boy was held for a period of 10 to 14 days.
Police have asked the public for any help in locating Leblanc and Cunningham and have released information about the vehicles they may be fleeing in.
RCMP say the men could be travelling in a grey 2003 Hyundai Elantra with N.S. licence plate FBP 233 or a brown 2002 Chevrolet Venture van with N.S. licence plate EZG 581.
Both men are known to police and even have a criminal history together.
Leblanc is due to return to court in November on unrelated child pornography charges, stemming from a 2010 arrest.
He was arrested at his Trinity Lane home on Dec. 18, 2010. Police seized a computer containing images of two young boys being abused. The boys were believed to be between two- and five-years-old.
The Avalon Sexual Health Centre, in Halifax, issued a statement Thursday condemning the fact Leblanc was free “a year after he was released on other sexual assault charges.”
“Society expects that the courts assess whether a perpetrator will reoffend,” Executive Director Irene Smith said. “By releasing Leblanc, it suggest that the courts don’t think sexualized violence is a serious issue.
Cunningham and Leblanc were together charged with a string of thefts and were sentenced to three years in federal prison in 2006.
The men are said to have moved into the house at 174 Faulkner Road, in Upper Chelsea about a month ago.
The residence is owned by a man named Mark Douglas Kenney, although the name on the roadside mailbox reads “C Kenney.”
The Chronicle Herald reported the house is linked to two paid-subscription bondage websites, both of which are under the name “Mr. Kato of MDK Media.”
According to the Nova Scotia Joint Registry of Stocks, Mark Kenney ran a now-defunct business called MDK Vacuum out of the same address.
Neighbours say the house had been for sale, but the sign was taken down about a month ago.
Kenney took a position as a school custodian at North Queens School in Caledonia, the Herald reported, and moved to Maitland Bridge.
Posted Thursday, Sept. 27 at 1:55 p.m. AT
Updated Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 4:52 p.m. AT
HALIFAX – RCMP have now asked for the public’s help to locate the two men suspected of confining a 16-year-old boy in Upper Chelsea, N.S.
Mounties have laid charges against 31-year-old Wayne Alan Cunningham and 47-year-old David James Leblanc.
The two men have been charged with forcible confinement and sexual assault.
RCMP were alerted to the teen Monday at 7:15 p.m., when a resident of Upper Chelsea contacted authorities after the boy fled a home at 174 Faulkner Road. He was still bound in chains when he escaped.
Leblanc was charged in December 2010 with making and distributing child pornography, sexual assault and sexual interference.
He was arrested at a home on Trinity Lane, in Dartmouth, where police seized computers and storage devices.
Images found on the computer depicted children that were all believed to be from Nova Scotia.
Investigators also believed the images were made in Dartmouth, the Annapolis Valley and the South Shore.
Police said those images were of two boys between the ages of two and five years old.
In a press news release, RCMP said they are seeking assistance from the public in locating the two men in either Lunenburg County or Halifax County.
Full interview with RCMP Sgt. Alain Leblanc on the two suspects in the the teen confinement and sexual assault case.
Updated Wednesday, Sept. 26 at 1:28 p.m. AT
UPPER CHELSEA, N.S. – A shabby-looking cottage in rural Nova Scotia is the scene of an RCMP investigation into the alleged confinement of a teenage boy – who reportedly fled to neighbouring homes, bound in chains, to beg for help.
The story began to unfold Monday night, when Lunenburg County RCMP were called to the community of Upper Chelsea, about 125 kilometres south of Halifax.
According to several reports, the boy ran down the gravel-covered route from 174 Faulkner Road, until reaching the home of an elderly woman, where he banged on the door and pleaded with her to let him in.
The Chronicle Herald reported the woman wouldn’t open the door, but said she would phone police.
Global News went to that home and spoke with a man who works for the widow. He said the woman told him the frightened boy was only wearing a hat and jacket and was barefoot when he showed up on her doorstep.
The man, who didn’t want to speak on camera, said the woman contacted authorities but the boy had fled by the time she returned to the window.
The boy knocked on another door, unaware of what community he was in and asked to be taken to Bridgewater, the Herald reported.
The house that the boy escaped from is said to be owned by a man named Mark Kenney. The name on the roadside mailbox reads “C Kenney.”
Vehicles said to belong to the men are no longer on the property.
RCMP have remained on the scene since Tuesday and a forensic team is also on site.
RCMP are expected to release an update shortly.
With files from The Canadian Press, The Chronicle Herald and Global’s Natasha Pace
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