A registered sex offender from Dartmouth accused of molesting two children is back behind bars after a Wolfville man who posted bail for him March 17 backed out of his commitment Monday.
Brandon William McNeil, 27, had been living with the surety and a woman at their residence on Gaspereau Avenue in Wolfville on a release plan negotiated by counsel.
McNeil was arrested three weeks ago and charged with two counts each of sexual exploitation, sexual interference and sexual assault.
Police allege he committed the offences against two boys between Feb. 11 and Feb. 27.
McNeil was taken into custody by sheriff’s deputies Monday after he appeared in Dartmouth provincial court with his surety.
The charges are due back in court April 21. Duty defence lawyer Lonny Queripel said he will advise the court and the Crown if McNeil comes up with a new bail plan before then.
Chief Judge Pam Williams ordered McNeil to have no contact with the alleged victims, whose identities are protected by a publication ban.
McNeil is the son of former Halifax Regional Police deputy chief Chris McNeil and the nephew of former premier Stephen McNeil.
In January 2015, he was sentenced to four months in jail, followed by 18 months’ probation, after pleading guilty to luring a 13-year-old boy on the internet.
He was arrested in March 2014 after a Dartmouth woman learned he had been having sexually explicit conversations with her son on Facebook for the past two months.
An assessment by a clinical psychologist found McNeil posed a moderate risk to commit further sex crimes.
At sentencing, he was also ordered to register as a sex offender for 10 years and provide a sample of his DNA for a national databank.
Charges of making child pornography and making sexually explicit material available to a child were withdrawn after he was sentenced on the luring charge.
