A 35-year-old Montreal restaurant cook was given a one year suspended sentence and has to perform 120 hours of community service after pleading guilty to criminally harassing a 16-year-old kitchen intern he threatened to beat up and rape in the summer of 2016.
Frank Calise displayed no emotion as the judge handed down her sentence.
For two months, Calise subjected his victim to vulgar language and inappropriate gestures as well as making fun of him and trying to grab the boy's genitals through his clothing.
Calise had testified that he was just joking around and couldn't explain his actions, apologizing to the youth.
Judge Nathalie Fafard said that he was a young and vulnerable victim whose dream was to work in a big kitchen but who lost interest in cooking and is still affected by the incidents.
Fafard added that it happened in the context of work, where Calise was in a position of trust and authority and that the "moral responsiblity was high" and the crimes were serious.
Montreal cook Frank Calise said it was just joking around when he threatened to beat up & rape 16-year-old kitchen intern, grabbed at his genitals through his clothes, used vulgar language.Judge didn't think it was funny,gave him 1-yr suspended sentence=criminal record. #CJAD800 pic.twitter.com/jOmzZ1q1iX
— Shuyee Lee (@sleeCJAD) October 17, 2018
The father of the victim, whose identity is protected by a court order, said the fact that Calise now has a criminal record is some comfort for what happened to his son.
"His whole defence was trying to avoid having that but now he's stuck with that and that's for life," said the young man's father.
Calise had wanted an absolute discharge because if he had a criminal record, he wouldn't be able to travel to the U.S. to see his young daughter, now in the custody of her mother.
But Fafard said there was no evidence Calise tried to visit his daughter over the past year or to gain custody, or if he even knew where they lived now.
The victim's father said his son can now put this behind him and even think about becoming a chef again.