Man convicted of sexually abusing 18 boys over three decades released on parole

The man at the heart of the Maple Leaf Gardens sexual abuse scandal has been released on parole.

Gordon Stuckless’s lawyer confirms his client was released to a halfway house in Hamilton in December.

Ari Goldkind says the conditions of Stuckless’s release mirror the ones imposed while he was on house arrest, and include carrying on with his chemical castration.

Stuckless was sentenced in 2016 to six and a half years behind bars — six after credit for his time on house arrest — for sexually abusing 18 boys over three decades.

That sentence was increased to a decade after Ontario’s highest court found the initial penalty was “demonstrably unfit” given the severity of his crimes.

The appeal court was split on the matter, however, and Goldkind says his client is seeking leave to challenge the ruling before the Supreme Court of Canada.

The case at issue concerns abuse that took place from the mid-60s to the mid-80s.

Court heard Stuckless befriended boys and lured them with gifts and activities, sometimes even getting to know their families.

A statement of fact read at his trial said the abuse often took place over years and included fondling, masturbation, oral sex and in some cases, digital penetration.

Stuckless previously pleaded guilty in 1997 for sex assaults on 24 boys while he worked as an equipment manager at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens between 1969 and 1988.

He was sentenced to two years less a day in that case, but that was increased to six years on appeal, less a year for time served.

He was freed on statutory release in that case in 2001 after serving two-thirds of his sentence.

The Canadian Press

Note to readers: This is a corrected story. An earlier version mistakenly said Stuckless was paroled in 2001, when in fact he was freed on statutory release.