Biddeford police were called to the home of a registered sex offender Saturday after he was confronted by a Boston businessman who demanded an apology for sexually abusing him as a boy.

The confrontation with registered sex offender Michael McKeown, posted online in an expletive-laden video, is the latest example of an increasingly aggressive effort by Matthew Lauzon to hold accountable the people he says sexually abused him, as well as those who could have prevented it, while he was growing up in the city.

In addition to accusing McKeown of abusing him, Lauzon has said he was sexually assaulted by a now-retired Biddeford police officer, Stephen Dodd. The allegations involving Dodd are being investigated by the Maine Attorney General’s Office.

Though the confrontation Saturday prompted a call to police alleging that McKeown was being harassed by Lauzon, police said nothing criminal occurred during the incident and no warnings were issued.

Lauzon, 30, claims McKeown abused him when he was 13 or 14 and that he was frightened and did not tell police at the time.

McKeown, 49, has an extensive criminal record dating to 1983 involving assaults, criminal mischief, trespass and other offenses. He is listed on the state’s sex offender registry because of two convictions for unlawful sexual contact and two convictions for gross sexual misconduct. Those charges were from 1984 and 1991. Details of the cases are not posted on the registry and it is not clear whether any of those charges involved children.

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Last Saturday, Lauzon confronted McKeown outside his home, which is across May Street from the city’s Little League fields and a playground. On the video, a game is being played in the background as the two men argue in McKeown’s yard.

Maine law does not restrict where sex offenders can live, but says municipalities may adopt local rules prohibiting sex offenders convicted of Class A, B or C crimes committed against minors younger than 14 years old from living within 750 feet of a public or private elementary, middle or high school or a municipally owned property where children are the primary users. Biddeford does not have a local ordinance restricting where convicted sex offenders can live.

McKeown said during an interview at his home Monday that he never sexually abused Lauzon and he has consulted his attorney about having the video removed from the Internet. He said he would like to have Lauzon served with a criminal trespass warning because of the aggressive way Lauzon came onto his property.

McKeown said he did have a sexual encounter with Lauzon, but not until Lauzon was at least 18.

In the video, McKeown is watering his lawn when Lauzon approaches. Cheers from the baseball game can be heard in the background.

“Mike, would you be willing to apologize for sexually abusing me years ago?” Lauzon asks before McKeown tells him to shut the camera off.

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During the confrontation, McKeown threatens to call police and a TV station before saying he didn’t abuse Lauzon. When Lauzon asks McKeown to apologize for performing oral sex on him, McKeown says, “I don’t know why I should apologize for it when it was a consensual situation.”

McKeown insists on the video that Lauzon was 18 when the oral sex occurred, but Lauzon said he was 13 or 14 at the time. By the end of the 2½-minute video, McKeown orders Lauzon off his property and says: “What do you want me to do? Rape you right now, dude?”

McKeown said Monday he shouldn’t have used inappropriate language during the confrontation, but he was caught off guard by Lauzon and angered by the accusation. He said he is a target because of his sex offender status and believes Lauzon is slandering him.

“I think it’s kind of rude the way he came on my property. He came at me full force,” McKeown said. “If he’s a victim, there’s a better way to cry out than to YouTube it.”

The video follows months of accusations of sexual abuse in Biddeford posted by Lauzon.

In a statement Lauzon says he gave to the Attorney General’s Office, Lauzon said McKeown first approached him more than 15 years ago and complimented his pitching in a Little League game. McKeown then brought Lauzon food and walked with the teen as he headed home from a job, Lauzon said in his statement.

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“At some point in the discussion, he convinced me to come to his house and I did so, I believe because he mentioned people’s names that I admired and I trusted him,” Lauzon wrote.

Once at the house, McKeown sexually touched Lauzon, then performed oral sex on him, Lauzon said.

Lauzon said he was frightened at the time and did not tell police, even though officers had apparently heard about the abuse and asked him about McKeown.

He said it was soon afterward that Dodd contacted him, saying he knew about the abuse and could help, Lauzon alleges.


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