Tony Humby and Bruce Escott, two men accused of being central figures in a sexual exploitation case in St. John’s, were not believed to have acted alone.
According to police search warrant documents — untested in court and obtained by CBC News — there were at least eight other potential suspects who came up during the course of the investigation, who have not been charged.
Three of the suspects are dead. Two were previously accused of sexual assault, but not charged. One had three prior convictions for sexual assault. Another was on a court order to stay away from an underage boy.
All were named by people who came forward to the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary and gave statements about Humby and/or Escott. Those two men — longtime neighbours on the same street in the east end of St. John’s — are facing a combined 86 charges related to allegations of abuse dating back as far as 1995 and as recently as 2022.
Humby has pleaded not guilty and is set for trial next March. Escott has reached a plea deal with the Crown and is due back in court next month.
The uncharged suspects flagged in RNC search warrant documents cannot be named, as a judge has ordered a publication ban on their identities.
‘Creepy’ men hanging around Humby’s trailer
The 355-page affidavit obtained by CBC Investigates was authored by Royal Newfoundland Constabulary Const. Jennifer Cotter, who provides an account of the force’s case against Humby and Escott.
According to Cotter’s affidavit, several alleged victims spoke about parties at Escott and/or Humby’s trailers when other men were present alongside teenage boys. Drugs and alcohol were prevalent, they said.
“[Name redacted] said that a lot of the men that would hang around Tony’s were creepy,” reads a summary of one alleged victim’s statement.
“[He] knows guys outside of Tony and Bruce as well, other predators.”
That alleged victim named two men in particular — aside from Humby and Escott — who he suspected of engaging in illegal sex acts while at Humby’s house.
“[He] advised they are the type of guys that are sexually exploitative, adding they are scumbags. He stated that he believes both have sexually exploited people, though not necessarily under age.”
According to Cotter’s affidavit, those two men were from rural parts of the province and were said to travel in for the parties several times each year.
One complainant alleged Humby and one of the men rented rooms at hotels, and invited teenage boys to stay the night. He alleged the man was present during times when Humby abused him, and accused the man of sexually exploiting his friend.
Suspect 1 — one of those two men — provided a cautioned statement to police in early 2024, saying he stayed at Humby’s house when he was in St. John’s for medical appointments. He denied exploiting and abusing teenage boys.
There does not appear to be anything in the affidavit to suggest Suspect 2 — the man described by one alleged victim as “a predator buddy of Tony’s,” who was accused of renting hotel rooms with Humby “to bring guys … for sex” — was questioned by police.
Another man, Suspect 3, was mentioned by at least four people during the police investigation, according to the affidavit. Three people said they’d been sexually assaulted by him, while another said they believed he was having sex with underage kids. Suspect 3 died more than a decade ago.
3 more known to police, documents allege
Two other names came up from a person who gave a statement to police about their memories of Humby and Escott from around 2008.
Both of those potential suspects lived in the metro St. John’s area, and were said to attend and host parties with teenagers present. That person told police they did not see anything sexual happen.
CBC News went to court to ask a judge to unseal hundreds of pages of search warrant documents, which give an account of the sexual abuse allegations against two St. John’s men dating back decades.
But Cotter’s affidavit shows police put together details about those two men and discovered they were already in their databases in relation to other crimes.
Suspect 4 was a suspect in three sexual assaults involving adult males, while Suspect 5 was convicted of sexual assault on three separate occasions.
Suspect 4 is now dead, while Suspect 5 still lived in the metro area as of last year, according to Cotter’s affidavit.
Another person, Suspect 6, was named by multiple complainants and group home workers as someone who was believed to be connected to Humby and teenaged boys.
According to Cotter’s affidavit, Suspect 6 was accused of child sexual assault in 2003 by a 10-year-old girl, but “the file was concluded due to credibility concerns and no basis for a charge.”
Seven years later, he was accused of sexual assault by a 16-year-old boy. Suspect 6 gave a cautioned statement to the RNC, denying the allegations. The file was closed “with not enough grounds for criminal charges.”
That same 16-year-old boy would later become one of the complainants against Humby and Escott.
There is no indication in police search warrant documents that the earlier allegations involving Suspect 6 had anything to do with either of those two men.
Suspect 6 died in 2023.
Two other names came up in various places during the investigation, according to the affidavit.
Suspect 7 was accused by social workers of “pimping” one of Humby and Escott’s alleged victims in downtown St. John’s in 2020. According to the documents, he was also on a court order to stay away from the boy, who was below the age of consent.
Group home workers told police they had information that Suspect 8 was responsible for bringing underage boys to Humby’s trailer on Hussey Drive. According to the documents, one worker said they believed he was “involved in the sexual activity at Tony’s.”
None of those eight men have been charged with any offences related to allegations in the ITO.
Court cases ongoing
RNC Const. Amanda Harnum filed an affidavit at provincial court in response to CBC’s application to unseal the Humby-Escott search warrant document.
Harnum noted that “there is information disclosed within the investigation pertaining to other possible suspects or co-conspirators. This information was not able to be confirmed or refuted by the investigators, or there were insufficient grounds regarding these individuals to proceed with criminal charges.”
Humby is facing 72 charges, while Escott is facing 14.
Humby has pleaded not guilty to 33 of them, and is heading to trial next March. He is due in court on Thursday on 39 more counts filed by the RNC last month, on the same day CBC Investigates reported on the search warrant documents. No plea has been entered at this point on the more recent charges.
Escott has reached a plea deal with the Crown and is back in court on Nov. 22.
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