A Canadian man who led sexual education workshops for schoolchildren has avoided prison time after being caught with over 1 million horrific child sex abuse images.
Derek Paul Roelofsen, 45, has now been released with a 12 month conditional sentence and three years of probation by a judge in Vancouver, despite having plead guilty to multiple counts relating to the possession and distribution of child pornography. Beyond the massive collection of images, Roelofsen had also accumulated 15,000 pornographic videos of children.
Roelofsen, who described himself as a “pedophile,” first pled guilty in May of last year. He was arrested in 2021 after a chat service provider flagged a message about the exploitation of children and sent it to Vancouver Police.
Police would later discovered messages in which Roelofsen discussed violent sexual fantasies involving children.
Despite admitting to being attracted to children, Roelofsen denied in court that he had ever abused a child. Disturbingly, the former public health nurse had regular contact with minors through his work for the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority.
According to pro-women news outlet Reduxx, Roelofsen had been involved in leading sexual education workshops aimed at boys and young men, and had promoted “youth-friendly sexual health” classes through an organization called Lost Boys Consulting.
Founded by Bryan Gidinski, a gay elementary teacher and trans activist, Lost Boys Consulting creates lesson plans on gender identity and sexuality for school kids. Gidinski’s organization is currently operating in multiple public schools in British Columbia, including the Powell River Board of Education and Surrey School District.
Roelofsen has a biography on the Lost Boys Consulting website which boasts of his expertise in youth sexual education.
“Through his work, Derek has developed a passion for young men’s health and has been very active in bringing young men’s health issues to the forefront of public health in Vancouver,” it reads.
“His workshops aim to be youth-friendly, comprehensive, and evidence-based. He brings to his workshops the hands-on real experience of his job as a public health nurse working in the area of sexual health. Derek infuses his workshops with a strong sense of mutual respect for the youth that he works with, recognizing their life experiences and ideas. He talks with children and youth, not at them.”
The now-convicted pedophile had also once been partnered with the British Columbia provincial government to create a youth survey that almost 30,000 pupils from Grades 7-12 completed across British Columbia.
The survey included intimate and sensitive questions the children were expected to answer, including some surrounding sexual and gender orientation, what age they were when they first had sexual activity, and if they had had oral sex or masturbated.
