Sex offender convicted in Kitchener teen’s death returned to prison for sixth time
KITCHENER — Christopher Watts, a high-risk sex offender convicted in a Kitchener teenager’s drug death 16 years ago, has been returned to prison for the sixth time, for allegedly breaking a condition of his long-term supervision order.
But unless he is charged, Watts will be released again. According to the Parole Board of Canada, Watts was brought back to prison after he tried to get someone to access the internet for him and was found with a photo of what appeared to be a teenage girl. He is not allowed to directly or indirectly access the internet.
“The board is satisfied that no appropriate program of supervision can be established that would adequately protect society from the risk of your reoffending,” the parole board concluded in a report released last week.
In 1989, Watts was convicted of forcible confinement of a 16-year-old girl.
In 2003, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison and declared a longterm offender after being convicted of manslaughter and sexual assault in the death of a 13-year-old Kitchener girl.
When he was released from a British Columbia prison in November 2015, Watts began a 10year term of community supervision with 12 conditions, including staying away from children, reporting all female relationships and not viewing pornography.
Watts, now 56, has been returned to prison six times for allegedly breaking conditions. The previous five times, he was released back into the community in B.C.
For the fourth time, the board had recommended Watts be charged for his alleged transgressions. No charges were laid the previous three times. If a charge is not laid soon, Watts will again be released.
The parole board has no authority to charge Watts.
“What we do is make the recommendation to the Crown,” board spokesperson Lisa Saether said in an interview. “That’s where our authority lies.”
If Watts was charged and convicted of breaching a condition, he could face up to 10 years in prison.
His latest trip back to prison came on May 4 after he tried to convince an employee at the halfway house where he was living to access the internet for him. He also allegedly threatened another employee.
Watts was found with a photo of what appeared to be a teenage girl (Watts claims she is 25) and a business card from The Spy Store, the parole board said. The store sells surveillance equipment, phone recorders and GPS tracking devices.
“According to the most recent correctional plan update, your accountability, motivation and reintegration potential remain rated as low,” the board said.
“Police in all areas consulted are opposed to your return to the community. The reasons provided include your assessed high risk of reoffending, ongoing staff safety concerns, high-risk behaviours and your attitude toward supervision.”
In January, Watts entered a building with a “full-service massage parlour” and went into a passport photo business, the board said.
Among his possessions in his halfway house, staff found a voyeurism DVD, a box cutter and a short story called “Jane in the Box” about a young woman being kidnapped, confined naked and drowned.
Watts was returned to prison but released when no charge was laid.
He was convicted in the death of 13-year-old Amanda Raymond, who overdosed on drugs supplied by Watts during an all-night party at his Somme Island home on Puslinch Lake near Cambridge in 2001.
His trial heard that Raymond and other girls at the party took a concoction of oxycodone, morphine and amphetamines. Watts sexually assaulted Raymond “when she was comatose” and wrote on her naked body with a permanent marker, the parole board said.
In his residence, police found a hidden camera, hundreds of photos of naked young females and a sex video.
When police issued a Canadawide arrest warrant for Watts in the death of Raymond, he went on the run. Police tracked him to a gas station in Niagara Falls, but he rammed his car past police cruisers and fled. Two weeks later, he was arrested at Union Station in Toronto.