Update: Snake man guilty in sex assaults

A Toronto man who has been in the news in the past for having his Egyptian cobra go missing in a rooming house is back in the news today. He has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two teenage girls.

Helder Claro, 39, father of five, has been found guilty groping two teenage girls ages 16 and 18 in 2005. He had been convicted of 3 out of the 5 sexual charges against him. He is out on bail until his sentencing hearing June 12th. The girls claimed they were afraid to complain because they feared him. He had a bad temper and they feared he would let his poisonous snakes loose in people's homes. He was accused of groping them while they worked for him in his pet shop. The threat of the snakes according to the crown was his way to exercise his control over the teenage girl. He denied the assaults and the threats of letting the snakes loose. He said he cherished his snakes, who is going to release $1,000 bucks? He pleaded guilty to mischief and common nuisance for the cobra incident. He served the equivalent of a year in jail for it. His cobra went missing in the rooming house. He said it got out through a hole in his cage that live rats chewed or the mice chewed. They were in the cage as food. The rooming house had to be evacuated and the snake was never found. In September, 2003 he was convicted of operating a pet shop without a licence and he was fined $4,000 and received 18 months probation. Update is to this story.