A Longueuil police officer has been dismissed for having sexual relations with the complainant in a sexual assault case in which he was the lead investigator. Detective Sergeant Jean-François Grégoire had already been called to order in 2014 for exchanging inappropriate text messages with a minor, it has been learned The duty.
“There is a risk of recidivism,” notes administrative judge Lysane Cree, in a decision in which she dismisses the police officer who had 23 years of experience within the Longueuil Agglomeration Police Service (SPAL).
The decision indicates that the detective sergeant had already behaved in a way deemed inappropriate by his superiors, this time with a teenage girl, who was also a complainant in a case for which he was responsible.
The events had also been the subject of an intervention by the SPAL. A precedent that constituted an aggravating factor according to the judge. “He received an administrative reminder in 2014 when he exchanged inappropriate text messages with a victim in another case where he was the investigator,” she notes.
Inadequate relationship
The former police officer resigned in September 2022, at a time when the SPAL was conducting an administrative investigation in which he was suspected of having had a relationship with a complainant.
Before the police ethics, the former investigator admitted to having gone to the home of a complainant to have sexual relations with her, sometimes during his shift. The events took place over a period of six months, from December 2019 to July 2020.
The former agent also admitted to using his work cell phone to exchange sexually suggestive text messages and photos with the alleged victim and then asking her to delete all traces of their exchanges.
Although the former police officer acknowledged all the faults attributed to him by the Police Ethics Commissioner, his lawyer insisted on recalling the “consensual nature” underlying this inappropriate relationship. “We recognize that, in terms of ethics, he should not have had sexual relations with the complainant, and the police officer is prepared to accept dismissal, which is a very strong, very severe sanction, and which we do not question, but it is important to note that we are in a consensual context,” stressed Mr.e Mario Coderre.
The former police officer made sure to erase all traces of their text message exchanges to keep his extramarital affair a secret from his partner, and not to hide it from his employer, Mr.e Coderre.
In the same case, the former investigator is also the subject of a $150,000 lawsuit filed last April. The complainant, whose identity is protected by the court, accuses him of taking advantage of the vulnerability of a victim of sexual assault.