By Sheldon Spackman

alleged victim testifies

Trial begins for Red Deer Mountie charged with sexual assault

Jun 17, 2019 | 3:57 PM

Trial is underway for a Red Deer RCMP member charged with sexual assault for an incident at the downtown detachment nearly three years ago.

Jason Andrew Tress, 32, has also pleaded not guilty to criminal breach of trust in relation to the July 1, 2016 incident.

The trial began Monday morning in Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench with testimony from the alleged victim, Melissa Heinrichs, 22, who agreed to have a publication ban lifted that would’ve prevented her name from being shared.

Heinrichs told court she and her boyfriend at the time were living at the Travelodge hotel in south Red Deer when Mounties showed up to investigate a firearms complaint. She testified police searched their hotel room but found no firearms, later locating them under a nearby stairwell.

During her arrest, Heinrichs claims Tress made vulgar comments about the way she was dressed, saying he could see her nipples through her cut-off t-shirt and it was giving him a bulge in his pants.

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Once at the detachment, Heinrichs testified she was searched by a female officer, made a phone call and was placed in a cell for a while before being taken to the fingerprint room by Tress.

It’s while the two were alone that Heinrichs says the alleged offence took place, saying Tress asked her to stand against a wall for a mugshot and to show him her breasts.

“I was asked quite a few times. He was being creepy, for lack of a better word, or unprofessional,” she said, adding she eventually complied with his request.

Heinrichs claimed Tress went through her cell phone, scrolled through her camera roll and found several nude photos of herself, along with videos of her boyfriend with firearms taken from the waist down.

Defence lawyer Robb Beeman said the case against his client comes down to the credibility of Heinrich, who admitted to being a drug user since she was 16 and drug-related convictions on her criminal record.

During cross-examination Monday afternoon, Heinrichs admitted she may have been under the influence of opioids or crystal meth while giving statements to police about four weeks after the alleged incident with Tress.

The trial resumes Tuesday and is scheduled to last five days.

Tress also faces one count of breach of trust in relation to a separate, unrelated incident in 2016 involving another woman, in addition to one count of sexual assault in relation to a third woman from an incident that occurred in 2012.