Noonan man sexually abused, recorded teenage boys for years
Michael Sorenson, 39, pleaded guilty Friday to a long list of charges, including sexual assaults and voyeurism, the victims of which were minors
Warning: This report includes graphic details of sexual crimes against minors and explicit language.
A Noonan man who operated a travelling petting zoo around New Brunswick is facing a lengthy prison sentence after admitting Friday to 23 sex-related crimes against 17 underage victims.
Michael Sorenson, 39, of Route 10 in Noonan, was scheduled to stand trial Friday on 33 criminal charges, but he opted instead to change his pleas to guilty on 23 of those counts.
The crimes included multiple counts of sexual assault, sexual exploitation, the making of child pornography, possession of child pornography and voyeurism.
The crimes occurred around New Brunswick, mostly in Noonan just a few kilometres east of Fredericton, but also in the capital, Saint John, Miramichi, Moncton and St. Stephen, at various times between 2008 and 2021.
In addition to the 17 known victims listed in the charges, one of the voyeurism offences relates to making visual recordings of “unknown persons” without their knowledge when they had expectations of privacy.
The identities of all of the victims are subject to a court-ordered publication ban.
Crown prosecutor Karen Lee filed an agreed statement of facts with the court, which Sorenson signed and acknowledged on the record.
That statement - a copy of which was obtained from the court by the Fredericton Independent - details how the investigation into Sorenson arose and the nature of his specific crimes in each instance.
Lee told court she and defence lawyer T.J. Burke will present a joint recommendation on sentence when the matter comes back to court July 21.
Judge Scott Brittain ordered the preparation of victim-impact statements and a pre-sentence report for consideration at that time, but Lee asked for the pre-sentence report to be expanded to include an assessment about the likelihood that Sorenson will commit further sexual offences in the future.
Sorenson remains free in the community subject to strict conditions pending his sentencing hearing, but given the nature and number of his crimes, a lengthy stint in federal prison is a certainty.
Games, dares and undressing
“File originated with a Cyber tip wherein there was a complaint of Sorenson hosting parties for young, teen men where he would get teens intoxicated and would then engage in a variety of games resulting in the teens participating in dares and undressing - that images would be taken of these events,” the statement opens.
That led investigators to a victim identified as A.B. (not his real initials), whom Sorenson counselled to touch himself for a sexual purpose in Fredericton between June 1 and Sept. 30, 2014.
At that time, A.B. was 15 years old and looking for work, and he found it working for Sorenson that summer for his travelling petting zoo and pony parties company, though the victim told police the job involved minimal actual work.
“A.B. got paid for driving around in a truck talking with Michael Sorenson and watching others work,” the statement says.
Eventually, the offender asked the boy if he’d let someone take pictures of him for $1,000,000, and he initiated a truth-or-dare-style betting game in which the “loser” would give the other one money.
Sorenson took A.B. to a home he’d just constructed for himself on Canada Street in Fredericton, and while they didn’t go inside, they played the game in the large, secluded yard. Sorenson agreed to pay the teenager $80 if he won the game.
“The dares went from sending silly text messages to other people and then to Michael Sorenson daring and asking A.B. to show him his anus, which A.B. did,” the document states.
Sorenson eventually plied the teen with liquor to get him to masturbate in front of him and on camera, but the boy lost confidence and couldn’t get erect.
“A.B. then stopped masturbating and Michael Sorenson told him that he wasn’t going to get the $80,” the statement says. “Michael Sorenson then drove him home.”
The victim - who reported the incident some years after 2014 - said it only happened the one time, but he went to police because he believed there were other victims.
“He said that Michael Sorenson hires teenagers frequently and knows that he has had falling-outs with some of them.”
RCMP officers then discovered another complaint had been filed related to Sorenson in 2015 dating back to 2007 events.
A wider investigation was undertaken, and the RCMP eventually got a search warrant for Sorenson’s home in Noonan.
‘The naked donkey challenge’
Police seized 41 digital devices, including USB drives found in Sorenson’s bedroom, the statement says.
“Const. Hussey noted that there were over approximately 200 folders that were labelled with people’s names,” it said.
“Inside these folders contained numerous images and videos of young nude males who were masturbating on camera.”
Many of those videos appeared to have been shot in Sorenson’s bedroom, as they featured the same green couch.
“There were also numerous images and videos of males standing on top of a donkey in the nude while Michael Sorenson was holding a leash,” the statement says.
“There was even one video where it shows Michael Sorenson positioning a camera so that an unknown male could ride the donkey in the nude.”
Mounties also found evidence of Snapchat and Instagram conversations in which Sorenson tried to entice teens to model for him naked. He also shared a photo of a nude youth on a donkey asking “Like the naked donkey challenge… jackpot is $1000.”
Victim after victim
The agreed statement of facts notes an RCMP investigator connected with victim A.A. - again, not his real initials - in July 2020, the aforementioned individual who'd filed a complaint in 2015.
Sorenson admitted Friday to sexually exploiting A.A., by counselling that victim to touch himself for a sexual purpose between June 1, 2008, and Nov. 30, 2008 while he was in a position of trust or authority over him.
A.A. reported in 2020 he met Sorenson when he was 13 or 14 years old in 2005. Sorenson went to the same church as his family, the document states, and the offender befriended A.A.'s mother after doing landscaping for her.
Sorenson groomed A.A., wrestling with him, telling him dirty jokes and relaying his sexual experiences.
When the boy was 16 or 17, Sorenson contacted him to say he'd launched a new casting agency for adult films and asked him if he was interested in taking part. Eventually, Sorenson took nude photos of the teenager at his home.
That led to a later video session in the fall of 2008 at Sorenson's home in Noonan for which Sorenson was supposed to pay A.A. But that didn't happen, the statement says, and A.A. sent the offender an angry message about it, noting Sorenson knew he was underage.
"Michael Sorenson replied back something to the effect of 'fucking idiot, don't ever blackmail me again,'" the document notes, though he eventually dropped off $350 at A.A.'s home in January.
Hidden cameras
Police were also able to identify some of the young males in the images they found in Sorenson's home, many of whom were victims of voyeurism, as they'd been recorded or photographed without their knowledge.
"Many individuals were not wanting to pursue charges even though they were surreptitiously recorded," the fact document states.
It was after Sorenson made his first court appearance July 14, 2021, on charges relating to the crimes against A.A. and A.B. that more victims started coming forward.
The investigation also revealed that Sorenson would hire teenage boys to work at his Noonan farm where he kept the petting-zoo animals, and when the school-aged workers would finish for the day, Sorenson would offer them the use of the shower in the home.
"Again, Sorenson had surreptitiously installed a spy camera in the washrooms of his parents' house to catch the young male employees going into and coming out of the shower," the statement says.
Sorenson admitted to making secret recordings of three known victims and unknown individuals, possessing images/videos of child pornography of 11 of his victims and making child pornography of nine known victims.
Many of the other victims who came forward reported similar grooming scenarios as A.A. and A.B., that Sorenson would play games daring them to do things, loosening their inhibitions with alcohol, asking them to masturbate for him and engaging in sexual touching.
Don MacPherson can be contacted at ftonindependent@gmail.com.
He will get 3 years a x be out in 8 months with time served and our ridiculous mandatory parole system.