RCMP
Cop sues RCMP after allegations of sexual
DATE: Sep 19, 08:17 PM
By Suzanne FournierCanwest News ServiceVANCOUVER — A veteran Mountie is suing top RCMP officers over an internal investigation of his alleged sexual misconduct with some of the underage girls whose testimony sent a former judge to prison.Const. Justin Harris who was working in Prince George, B.C., wants the RCMP to pay him for past loss of income and future loss of his earning capacity, as well as unspecified aggravated and punitive damages.Another officer, Const. Joseph Kohut, is seeking $1 million in damages over similar sex-crime allegations, according to a writ he filed last November.Harris’s statement of claim was filed Sept. 9 in B.C. Supreme Court.Harris claimed he “enjoyed perfect emotional health” before he was suspended in 2004. He said he was rendered unable to work by an RCMP internal investigation into alleged sex crimes that subjected him to “intense media interest.”He said his “five accusers” made “unfounded uncorroborated allegations” and have “no credibility.”Harris’s lawsuit has enraged Bob Sandbach whose daughter Celynn was just 13 when she was attacked by then-provincial court judge David Ramsay.Celynn died of a sepsis infection last April.Ramsay pleaded guilty in 2004 to sexual assault and sex with a minor. He died in prison last year.Celynn was one of the five who alleged that RCMP officers in Prince George extorted sexual favours from them while they were mostly underage and living in poverty.“My daughter pointed out Const. Harris to me shortly before her death, and was very shaken and upset to see the cop,” said Sandbach.“I’m really angry that Harris is suing now because my daughter is dead and can’t (testify.)”Harris’s statement of claim said he was in uniform in Prince George from 1993 to 1997 and in plainclothes from 1997 to 2001, with duties that “required him to deal with individuals involved in prostitution and the drug trade.” He said Celynn was “physically attracted” to him and she fabricated evidence of his sexual misconduct, which allegedly included unpaid sex acts, and sex acts with another girl.Vancouver Province