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Former North Vancouver Mountie’s cruiser-sex case to be reviewed

Jane Seyd (North Shore News) – RCMP Assistant Commissioner Craig Callens has said he will review the written decision of an RCMP disciplinary board that punished Staff. Sgt. Travis Pearson by docking his pay 10 days for having sex in his police cruiser.

Callens, commanding officer for the B.C. RCMP, issued a statement following the disciplinary decision Feb. 9 against Pearson, an RCMP officer who at one time was in charge of professional standards at the North Vancouver detachment.

In December, Pearson admitted to being guilty of disgraceful conduct for having on-the-job sex in his police car with Const. Susan Gastaldo, a female officer who was working as his subordinate in a special surveillance unit in Burnaby.

Pearson also admitted to using his RCMP Blackberry to send numerous sexual text messages to Gastaldo.

But Pearson vehemently denied other allegations levelled at him during the disciplinary hearing, including complaints by Gastaldo that Pearson sexually harassed her and forced her into the relationship.

The board decided that Gastaldo had not been forced and that the affair was consensual.

Pearson also denied accusations of sexual harassment made by a civilian employee of the North Vancouver RCMP, who told the tribunal that Pearson stalked her and forced her into a sexual relationship while the two worked together at the North Vancouver detachment.

In making its decision, the tribunal made it clear it was not considering the evidence of that witness, who testified under subpoena as part of Gastaldo’s defence.

It also did not deal with other allegations that Pearson lied to superiors about the affair with Gastaldo.

In a statement issued on the result of the disciplinary hearing, Callens said he was “not able to make an informed comment with respect to why the appropriate officer of the day proceeded with a single allegation in this case.”

Callens added, “In this particular case, whether I wanted to or not, there was no option for me as the new commanding officer to add to the allegation of the disgraceful conduct heard in this matter, due to the one-year limitation period.”

Callens said in his statement he is reviewing active RCMP disciplinary files “to determine if the allegations and sanctions being sought are consistent with my view and expectations regarding member conduct and discipline.

“Going forward, I have been clear that accountability is my top priority.”

Gastaldo, who will learn her fate from the disciplinary board later this month, is still suing the RCMP in civil court.

[Source]

Categories: Abuse By Mounties, Abuse Of Mounties, Broken Force, Harassment within the RCMP, Internal Discipline, Internal Morale, Mounties Breaking The Law, Mounties Charged, Mounties Investigating Mounties, Senior Management.

Comment Feed

4 Responses

  1. You dont really believe that snoop network BS do you KP? The hallmark of a control freak manipulator, that is all that is. Mind games for his pitiful ego. He wishes.

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    lindapepper2012.02.21 @ 20:58
  2. Something just stinks here. From the onset Cst Gastaldo stated Pearson ran a snoop network and had information on a high ranking member and would never be fired. With a little digging one can easily find out who was in Air India and who supervised Pearson in O.

    I have some huge concerns. Pearson never denied those allegation at the hearing and plead guilty, or rather sobbed in his guilty plea. I know if I was accused of an egregious act I would be counting the seconds to take the stand and speak the truth.
    I just figured what the stench is – blackmail.
    There is no room for black mail which is defined as follows;

    1. (Law) the act of attempting to obtain money by intimidation, as by threats to disclose discreditable information
    2. the exertion of pressure or threats, esp unfairly, in an attempt to influence someone’s actions

    How disgusting if he resorted to blackmail.

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    KP19582012.02.21 @ 01:12
  3. Now that he was caught lying and other stuff that came out of his so called testimony, they have more than enough to boot him after investigating that load. And speaking of oversight, where is our new one that the government promised? Waffle waffle.

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    lindapepper2012.02.20 @ 20:10
  4. Pearson gets docked 10 days pay for being the person in authority over Cst. Gastaldo and ultimately the person in control and responsible for the ongoing relationship, whatever it was. If Cst. Gastaldo receives a more serious sanction from the Kangaroo Court (Adjudication Board) then it brings the whole alleged process into disrepute.

    These Adjudication Boards are a farce and entirely controlled by RCMP upper management to control the process and outcomes. It is time for Independent Oversight as all previous research and studies have indicated, which includes several former RCMP Commissioners.

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    joe street cop2012.02.20 @ 14:06