Edmonton man with history of sex crimes against children deemed a dangerous offender

Curtis Poburan, a man with a history of sex crimes against children, has been declared a dangerous offender. CTV News Edmonton's Amanda Anderson reports.

Curtis Poburan, a man with a history of sex offences against children, has been declared a dangerous offender.

The decision was handed down in an Edmonton courtroom on Monday and was based on a December 2022 guilty plea for abducting a boy from the Callingwood neighbourhood in 2021.

His lawyer told CTV News Edmonton an appeal is being considered.

Poburan had also pleaded guilty to using an imitation firearm to commit the offence and violating probation orders to stay away from children, places they might be or to have weapons.

He was handed a four-year global sentence on those charges.

Poburan was found fit to stand trial for the dangerous offender hearing on June 17 after firing five lawyers and repeated outbursts in court.

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A psychiatrist who completed a nine-page fitness assessment report on Poburan noted that he understood the charges against him, but “failed to accept them, expecting them to be dismissed.”

At a court appearance on June 14 he had asked to call “half of the Edmontonian population” as witnesses because police had published his name in media releases.

“I want to cross examine anyone who’s ever heard of me,” he said.

He also said he no longer wished to speak to mental health professionals.

“I won’t talk to any lawyers or psychiatrists anymore. I don’t wish to deal with this bull**** anymore,” he said.

Dr. Curtis Woods, a forensic psychiatrist, who treated Poburan between 2004 and late 2020 testified on June 12 that Poburan had not changed his perspective during the time he treated him.

“He is aware that he is a homosexual pedophile. He is aware that it is against the law to have sex with underage males,” Woods said.

“The problem is he has really no motivation or inclination to change,” he added.

Woods said Poburan has told people he plans to reoffend and that he’s exclusively attracted to underage males.

“Typically under the age of 12,” said Woods.

He told court Porburan had offended while he was an ice cream vendor, posing as a photographer and with an invitation to shoot airsoft guns.

“I would be very concerned with him being alone with a 10-year-old boy in the River Valley,” Woods said.

Poburan will be eligible for parole in January 2028 as per the Criminal Code of Canada, but it will be up to the Parole Board of Canada to determine if he receives it.

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Amanda Anderson