BY STEPHANE MASSINON, CALGARY HERALD
Henri Jean Rusk, 52, is in the Calgary area after serving a three-year sentence for sexual assault. He is bound by a court order that allows authorities to monitor him and place conditions on his whereabouts and activities
Photograph by: Handout, Calgary Police Service
CALGARY - A random police check helped catch a violent repeat sex attacker moments after he allegedly assaulted a woman he’d just befriended.
Police have charged Henri Jean Rusk, 52, with another sex assault after showing up at his home Monday.
They encountered a woman who was trying to leave, police say.
“He was caught during the commission of the offence,” said Staff Sgt. Todd Zelensky of the high-risk offender program.
“We were able to step in and intervene”.
Rusk is back behind bars and facing additional charges of breaching his release conditions. He is one of two offenders outfitted with GPS ankle bracelets who are being monitored by police.
Police say Rusk met and quickly befriended the woman at an LRT platform before bringing her to his home.
“It appeared to be a very fresh friendship,” said Zelensky.
In February, police warned Calgarians about Rusk when he was freed from jail after his sentence was up.
Rusk served a three-year sentence for a 2006 sex assault on a quadriplegic woman who had cerebral palsy.
The incident began when Rusk was picking bottles near an inner city Safeway store and met the victim as she finished her shopping. He struck up a “pleasant conversation” as he accompanied her on her way home.
Rush followed his victim to the entrance of her apartment building, made suggestive comments and began to assault her despite ongoing verbal protests.
The attack only ended because passersby stepped in to help the woman.
Rusk has a lengthy record of violent offences against women, including a 1979 conviction for attempted murder.
In 1985, he was convicted of sexual assault causing bodily harm, gross indecency and unlawful confinement.
A sexual assault in 1997 netted him six years in prison.
Rusk also has convictions for two robberies, as well as weapons and property offences.
He was on probation for a 2005 conviction for breaking and entering when he attacked his wheelchair-bound victim.
Although Rusk has finished his sentence, he is bound by a short-term court order that allows police to monitor him and place conditions on his whereabouts and activities.
Police said his risk of offending is increased when he drinks alcohol or uses drugs.
Calgary Herald
