VANCOUVER - Months after being released from jail for a sexual assault in Abbotsford, B.C., Greg Poirier crossed the border into the U.S. and attacked another woman.

The Vancouver-area man was sentenced this week 25 years in U.S. prison for the sexual attack stateside, compared to a 30-day jail term he was handed here.

In 2005, Poirier followed an Abbotsford woman from a grocery store to her home and "grabbed" her buttocks on her driveway, according to court documents.

The woman angrily confronted him and Poirier ran away. The New York City victim wasn't so lucky.

Six months after he was released from jail here for a sexual assault conviction, Poirier went to New York, where he apparently worked as a truck driver, and followed a woman home.

Poirier "pushed the victim into her apartment, locked the door, and sexually assaulted her," according to the district attorney's office. It wasn't until the woman bit Poirier's wrist, while being sexually assaulted, that he fled. She drew blood, which was later used to link Poirier to the crime.

Abbotsford Police Const. Ian MacDonald suggested the assault here wouldn't be considered a "full-on" sex attack, and the 30-day sentence reflected that.

"It certainly would've been traumatic to the victim, but I would suggest it would've been on the lower end," he said. "As opposed to what we see on the high end, (involving) confinement and those types of things."

New York University law professor James Jacobs said Canada's justice system isn't to blame for what happened in New York. Had the groping incident and trial occurred there, a first-time sex conviction likely wouldn't have been handed much more of a sentence than he got in Canada.

"It's always easier to read history backwards. Now we know that Poirier is a dangerous sex offender, but that might not have been clear at all the first time," he said by e-mail Tuesday.

Poirier is still wanted Canada-wide on three outstanding charges from 2007, including escaping lawful custody, break and enter, and dangerous driving.