RCMP Watch

Lori Coolican (TheStarPhoenix.com) -As long as he stays out of trouble for the next year, a member of the RCMP based in Saskatoon will not have a criminal record for trying to buy sex from an undercover city police officer.

Mark Joseph Malloy, a 52-year-old father of two, pleaded guilty to a single count of communicating for the purpose of prostitution in provincial court Tuesday, rather than go ahead with a scheduled trial.

The Crown and defence agreed on a joint submission asking Judge Brosi Nutting to impose a conditional discharge with one year of probation, which the judge accepted.

Malloy was off duty when he pulled his car up to the curb near an undercover officer who was posing as a prostitute near the corner of 20th Street and Avenue J at 10 p.m. on March 8, 2007. He unlocked the passenger door and told her to hop in.

When the woman pointed out a marked police cruiser up the street, Malloy remarked, “I’m busted,” court heard. The undercover officer told him to drive around the block and come back, which he did, once more inviting her into his car. According to an agreed statement of facts, he then told the woman he wanted “a blow” and offered to pay her the going rate.

They negotiated a price and she told him to meet her in a nearby park. The meeting never happened and police pulled Malloy’s car over to arrest him a short time later in the 400 block of 20th Street, court heard. Later, at city police headquarters, he claimed the undercover officer had done all the talking and he drove away without offering her anything.

“He did not at any point advise the police that he was with the RCMP - so he did not attempt to use that at any time, your honour,” Crown prosecutor Mitch Crumley told Nutting.

As a police officer, Malloy took an oath to protect vulnerable and disadvantaged people, not exploit them on the street, Crumley said.

Most first-time offenders are given a chance to attend a “john school” as an alternative to the criminal process after being caught trying to buy sex, as a way to educate them about the harm caused by street prostitution - but after 33 years with the RCMP, Malloy already knows, Crumley added.

Currently working as a corporal in the RCMP’s traffic section, Malloy’s career has included general duties and proceeds of crime investigations. He is also part of a tactical troop providing security for large events and visiting heads of state. He was not suspended or redeployed by the force after the charge was laid.

Malloy recently received a letter from the RCMP, informing him that he will soon face an internal discipline process in connection with the incident, his defence lawyer, Daryl Labach, told court.
He has no prior criminal record and no prior record of discipline with his employer, Labach added, noting other police officers have received conditional discharges in Saskatchewan for off-duty crimes that include sexual assault and assault causing bodily harm. There’s even a prosecutor working for Saskatchewan Justice in Regina who once received a conditional discharge for a sexual assault, Labach noted.

He said Malloy had recently been through a difficult divorce and was under pressure from a long-distance girlfriend who wanted him to change cities at the time of the incident, while his youngest daughter was dealing with health problems. Malloy’s daughters, aged 21 and 23, were living with him at the time.

Malloy also “had a little bit to drink” with some co-workers earlier that evening, though it was not enough to impair his driving, Labach said.

Nutting agreed to place the officer on probation for one year, during which time he will have to donate $1,000 to a local women’s shelter, work 50 hours of community service, take any personal counselling ordered by his probation officer and stay out of Saskatoon’s “stroll” area except for work purposes. The “stroll” stretches from Avenue B to Avenue W, between 17th Street and 22nd Street.

A contrite Malloy described his crime as “disrespectful” in a personal statement to the judge.

“I take full responsibility for my actions of that night. I want to apologize to the people I let down. I made a terrible error in judgment that night that I regret,” he said.