Wray was in and out of prison for 30 years for sexual offences against adolescent boys.  He was convicted of 20 sex crimes between 1963 and 1988.

.  To a small group of people in Toronto he was ‘Harold’.  While this might sound ominous it was actually something very special.  Harold was Wray’s middle name and the group was his Circle of Support and Accountability.

In 1994, Budreo was released from Kingston Penitentiary.  He was spirited out in the trunk of Dan Haley’s car amid noose-waving demonstrators and screaming headlines. Dan had met Wray through Alcoholics Anonymous and while this was before Dan began his formal work with Correctional Service Canada he felt compelled to help Wray.  Even at these early stages of Dan’s work with ex-offenders he knew that someone like Wray was destined to reoffend if they did not have some type of support in the community.

It was not an easy process for anyone involved.  Frightened picketers and protesters soon learned that Wray was visiting Dan’s home in Peterborough.  “I am not a monster,” he told CHEX Television through a ski mask during an interview.

Within days of arriving in Peterborough Wray moved to Toronto an exhausted, hunted man.  It was there that he became the Core Member in one of the first Circles of Support and Accountability.  More than just a support group his volunteers were the people whom he would eventually come to regard as his friends.

No one who knew Wray would say that Budreo was appreciative or grateful. He was narcissistic and cantankerous, making him a difficult person to deal with at times.  But when he agreed to regularly meet with and report to a group of ordinary citizens, he found a way to help deal with his many flaws and most importantly not to reoffend.

“At some point Harold realized he had a stake in the program, in the sense that circles would be affected if he didn’t stay out (of prison),” said Hugh Kierkegaard, a regional chaplain with Correctional Services Canada, a founder of the Toronto circle program and a former member of Budreo’s circle. “He saw himself as a pioneer in some ways. He was very proud of the fact he was in one of the first circles.”

Budreo also took Lupron to suppress his sex drive, even though the drug wreaked havoc on his health, causing severe osteoporosis and organ damage. He always told the circle volunteers it was worth it to stay in the community.  But often the community didn’t want him. He lost more than one job and many times circle members had to find him a new home when a landlord or neighbour learned of his identity.

Many of Wray’s Circle volunteers gathered for his funeral service on September 4, 2007. He was 63.  He did not reoffend after his release in 1994.