RCMP Watch

11 Jan 2006 - Terrace Standard

CANADA, VANCOUVER - A FORMER RCMP officer will serve a lengthy jail sentence after being convicted of engaging in sexual acts with two teenaged girls.

Gary Wayne Stevens, 47, was ordered to serve 18 months in jail followed by three years probation by Madame Justice Carol Ross of Vancouver in Terrace Supreme Court Jan. 3.

In addition, Stevens must provide a DNA sample, be registered as a sex offender and cannot possess any firearms for 10 years.

Ross also ordered Stevens to participate in a sex offender treatment program, to abstain from alcohol and other intoxicants, to not have any direct or indirect contact with either of his two victims and to not have contact with any child under age 14 unless supervised by a sober adult.

In reviewing submissions from the sentencing hearing, Ross noted that Stevens had himself been a victim of sexual assault in his childhood and early adulthood.

She noted that Stevens had plead guilty to both charges and had shown some remorse.

The abuse wasn?t prolonged and Stevens didn?t threaten or injure the victims, she said. In each case, he tended to justify his behaviour and shift some of the blame to the victims, Ross said.

There were some aggravating factors such as the fact that the victims were 13 and 14-years-old at the time and that Stevens was an RCMP officer and therefore knew the law and its consequences.
Ross noted that as a police officer, Stevens had received a commendation for the 1990s Gustafson Lake standoff and another commendation for bravery.

During the sentencing hearing in December, 2005, Crown counsel Shirley Meldrum had asked for jail time of 18 months to two years less a day, arguing that an RCMP officer should be sentenced more harshly.

At that time, defence counsel Ken Anderson argued that Stevens didn?t pose a risk to re-offend and could serve his sentence in the community.

Anderson asked for a conditional sentence and suggested the possibility of a Nisga?a forgiveness feast or restorative justice for Stevens, who is Nisga?a.

In handing down her sentence, Ross told the court that the defence?s sentencing suggestions wouldn?t suffice.

?I can?t come to a conclusion whether it?s fitting or appropriate for these circumstances,? she said about the forgiveness feast.
?I have concluded a conditional sentence order is not appropriate in this circumstance.?

Stevens served in the RCMP for 22 years in Prince Rupert, Port Simpson, Merritt, New Aiyansh and Kitimat. An internal RCMP investigation was abandoned when Stevens resigned from the force at the end of Sept. 2004.

Stevens was charged with two counts of sexual assault in June 2004. He initially plead not guilty in Terrace Provincial Court in August 2004.

One count of touching a young person for a sexual purpose was added to the charges after a preliminary inquiry concluded.

The case was moved to Terrace Supreme Court where Stevens plead guilty to all three charges at his first appearance in June 2005.

A sentencing hearing followed in December 2005. One charge of sexual assault was stayed, leaving Stevens? guilty pleas to the charges of sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl in August 1992 and touching a 14-year-old girl for a sexual purpose some time between August 2003 and April 2004.