Ex-Canuck Reid Boucher convicted of sexual assault

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Boucher was 17 at the time and the victim was just 12.

Former Vancouver Canuck Reid Boucher has pleaded guilty in a Michigan court to sexually assaulting a 12-year-old girl in 2011.

Boucher, 28, was 17 at the time and was playing for the USA Hockey National Team Development Program, which is based in Plymouth, Mich.

Boucher was being billeted by the victim’s family.

The victim said Boucher twice forced her to engage in sexual acts.

Boucher was originally charged with first-degree criminal sexual conduct, which carries a sentence of 25 years to life in prison, but on Dec. 13 pleaded guilty in Washtenaw County Trial Court to third-degree criminal sexual conduct involving sexual penetration with an individual between the ages of 13 and 16 years old.

As part of the plea agreement, Circuit Judge Patrick Conlin will not sentence Boucher to any upfront jail time. Boucher’s sentencing hearing is scheduled for Jan. 31.

According to the Detroit Free Press, the judge said the sentence reduction was appropriate given “unusual” circumstances in the case and also noted Boucher’s age at the time of the reported assault and how long it has been since then.

As the offence occurred when Boucher was a minor, under Michigan state law, if he successfully completes whatever his sentence proves to be, the conviction won’t appear on his public record.

The young woman, now 23,  told the Detroit Free Press she’s disgusted with the sentence.

“He’s never had to face any accountability. And then in the meantime … my entire life was kind of shattered into a million pieces,” she said. “I’ve had to piece that together over the past 10 years.”

She said she didn’t even tell her parents about what had happened until she was 15 and tumbled into problems with drugs and alcohol, engaged in self-harm and developed an eating disorder. She said the Larry Nassar case — the team doctor for USA Gymnastics who was convicted of abusing of girls and women — prompted her to report her allegations to Ann Arbor, Mich., police last year.

Around the time of the assaults, the woman said she told friends. According to the Free Press, a parent of one of her friends learned of her allegations and then took them to USA Hockey, who eventually removed Boucher from her home.

Boucher played 48 games for the Canucks from 2017 to 2019. He also played in the NHL for the Nashville Predators and New Jersey Devils. He’s played the last two seasons in the Kontinental Hockey League, currently for Yaroslavl Lokomotiv.

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