Quebec man sentenced to two years on child pornography, animal cruelty, and arson charges

Dave Larose-Guertin, who is also a self-described devil worshiper, pleaded guilty to the charges last spring.

Guertin, who can be seen in his Facebook profile photo with a small white rat on his shoulder, has been sentenced to two years in prison on five charges. Those charges include animal cruelty, arson and child pornography.

Guertin’s time in prison, totaling just over a year and four months, means his sentence won’t last much longer than half a year.

Guertin’s lawyer made the case to the court that Guertin, 21, had made a 180 degree turn in his life and was now a better man. The lawyer argued that Guertin was reformed, and now no longer made a hobby of gaining the trust of rodents and torturing them to death.

Guertin’s criminal past is one that is particularly tough to comb through. In 2018, he was caught setting fire to an abandoned barn, for motives still not fully understood. Police used canine units to track down Guertin to another farm building, where they saw him setting up an inverted pentagram symbol drawn in his own blood.

When police rescued rats from Guertin’s property, they went through pet store records, where they found that Guertin was buying several small rodents and torturing them, reported by the Ottawa Citizen.

Guertin’s neighbour also rescued a cat, which was left for dead on his property. The cat has since made a full recovery under the care of the SPCA.

The Crown argued that the two year term would put Guertin in federal custody, which would better aid Guertin in getting psychological help.

A 16-year-old was charged along with Larose-Guertin in 2018, but police did not release his name. Both of those charged in the heinous acts were from Gatineau’s Buckingham sector of the city.