(The Canadian Press)

By Troy Gillard

incident happened in 2016

Appeal dismissed for former Red Deer Mountie convicted of breach of trust

May 26, 2021 | 9:10 AM

A former Red Deer RCMP officer convicted of breach of trust has had his appeal of the conviction dismissed.

Jason Tress was found guilty in September 2019 on a count of breach of trust and acquitted of sexual assault with a weapon. His appeal was heard earlier this month in Calgary.

He was given conditional a six-month sentence including 24-hour house arrest for the first 45 days followed by a curfew from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. for the remainder.

Tress was convicted for an incident that occurred during the early morning hours of May 1, 2016.

While responding to a 911 call for a domestic dispute at a Red Deer apartment, Tress took a female witness into a bedroom and closed the door. While talking with her, Tress told the young woman, who was 19 at the time, that she had nice breasts and asked whether they were real or fake.

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After making the comments, Tress stood in front of the bedroom for a period of time before allowing the woman to leave. At no point did he ask to touch the woman or many any move to do so.

Tress argued in his appeal that the trial judge, Justice David Gates, rendered an unreasonable verdict by applying incompatible findings of fact that evince an illogical pathway to conviction, and by finding that his conduct was a “serious and marked departure” from the standards of conduct expected of an RCMP officer when the Crown led no evidence of such standards.

However, the three-member Court of Appeal of Alberta panel said it found no reason to interfere with the trial judge’s conclusion.

“The complainant was entitled to trust that her dealings with a police officer would remain professional and non-threatening,” the panel determined. “Instead, as the trial judge found, Mr. Tress used his public role to place her in a position of enhanced vulnerability and proposition her ‘for a clearly sexual purpose’ in a series of actions ‘that were somewhat predatory in nature.’ He chose to ‘bury’ the original investigation ‘so as to avoid exposing his improper conduct.’”

Tress was placed on paid leave immediately following the incident before being suspended with pay later that year and put on leave without pay in 2017. He resigned from the RCMP in fall 2019.