Jury selection in trial of alleged Fall River child predator to begin in June

Jury selection in the trial of the Fall River man accused of traveling to Michigan last month to carry out a plan to rape two girls is scheduled to begin June 4 in United States District Court in Kalamazoo, according to court documents.

Jonathan Ryan Ledoux, 30, of 60 Stockton St., has been held without bail since his arrest March 22 at Gerald R. Ford International Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

He was indicted four days later on charges of attempted coercion of minors and enticement of minors and crossing state lines to engage in illicit sexual conduct. Ledoux pleaded not guilty.

Ledoux’s arrest came after a four-month correspondence between him and an undercover Department of Homeland Security agent who was posing as the single mother of two girls, ages 9 and 14, in an incest chatroom.

Ledoux allegedly messaged Special Agent Scott Bauer saying he was interested in “incest” and “young,” and wanted to “breed” the children.

In dozens of subsequent messages, he described the sexual acts he wanted to perform with the children, noting he wanted them to be “obedient” to him, according to a search warrant affidavit on file at Fall River District Court.

Ledoux bought a ticket to fly to Grand Rapids. He allegedly purchased two collars, one pink and one purple, with heart-shaped metallic pendants, which he told the agent he wanted the girls to wear as a “signature of ownership.”

About a month after he began chatting with the undercover agent, Ledoux said he expressed fear he was walking into “some sort of lure to catch a predator,” and would be arrested at the airport.

If he was arrested, Ledoux told the agent posing as the single mother he would “go quietly” so his elderly parents would not find out “that their perfect, good, morally sound son would go out to meet a complete stranger and attempt to have sex with a minor,” according to a criminal complaint filed by Bauer.

Ledoux, a 2006 graduate of Diman Regional Vocational-Technical High School’s graphic communication shop, went through with his plan to fly to Michigan. He was arrested after landing at about noon on Friday, March 22, according to the complaint.

He lived across the street from the John E. Boyd Center for Child Care and Development in Fall River.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Maloney set the final pre-trial conference date for May 28 in United States District Court in Kalamazoo, Michigan. It is the date when prosecutors and Ledoux’s defense attorney Helen Nieuwenhuis will review procedures for jury selection and submit evidence that will be viewed at trial.