London Free Press, November 17, 1998

Abuse of teenage boys draws 90-day jail term
By John Hamilton, Free Press Reporter

One of three men charged after two 14-year-old boys were hung upside down and assaulted at a Strathroy golf club was sentenced yesterday to 90 days in jail.

Jason John Koolen, 22, of Watford, was described by his lawyer, Ted McGrath, as a minor player in an afternoon of abuse.

Koolen pleaded guilty in court to two counts of unlawful confinement at the Bear Creek Golf and Country Club.

Judge Ross Webster rejected McGrath's suggestion of a conditional sentence in the community.

Webster said a jail term was needed but agreed to allow Koolen to serve his sentence on weekends.

The abuse began as a joke, Webster heard, but went too far after one of the two boys spraypainted his name on grass at the club.

The judge was told the abuse included one boy being hit on his bare backside with a rope and being threatened with a red-hot welder.

The welder was used to burn holes in one boy's pants.

The three men charged are former employees, who worked at the club with one of the victims.

Jason Alexander Green, 25, of Watford, waived his right to a preliminary hearing yesterday and was committed for trial on charges of unlawful confinement, assault and assault with a weapon.

A trial date could be set as early as Jan. 12.

Keith Clifford Dunsmore, 26, of Glencoe, is to appear in court Monday on charges of unlawful confinement, assault and sexual assault.