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TORONTO, August 31, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Toronto man accused of sexually attacking a 5-year-old boy last week was declared a dangerous sex offender 19 years ago, according to court records.

Dennis James Taylor, 50, is in custody after being charged with sexual assault and sexual interference in connection with an incident last Thursday involving a boy who lives at the same Toronto apartment complex on Sherbourne St., the Toronto Star reported.

The boy told his mother about the assault the following day and she called police, who arrested Taylor, described as a bisexual pedophile, on Saturday night.

In 1990, Taylor was sentenced to nine years in prison for assaulting four children in Ottawa between July 1988 and February 1989.

The Ottawa Citizen reported that Taylor pleaded guilty in June 1989 to three counts of sexual assault on boys and sexually touching a girl, and was declared a dangerous offender.

At the time, Judge James Fontana reportedly said a long prison term for Taylor was necessary to protect the public, but he rejected an option available to him under Canadian law allowing for an open-ended prison sentence of which at least three years must be served. The individual is then assessed by psychiatrists every two years until he is considered fit to be released.

Assistant Crown attorney Louise Dupont, who had asked Fontana for an indefinite prison term, predicted that Taylor would reoffend.

“The main concern of this court today should be the protection of the public,” Dupont said at Taylor's 1990 sentencing hearing.

Judge Fontana said it was not appropriate in Taylor's case since it would amount to a life sentence.

Taylor had already served two four-year prison terms for sexual assaults on children in his hometown of Brampton, Ontario, and had been treated for pedophilia at the Royal Ottawa Hospital for four years before he committed the assaults in Ottawa, The Canadian Press reported.

It was not clear when or why Taylor had been released from custody, but neighbors said the dangerous sex offender had lived in the apartment complex for over two years.