Judge claims Ontario officer led life of 'exemplary service'
A police officer in Hamilton, Ont. has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a woman he was mentoring in 2010 – but he will not be serving any jail time, a judge ruled.
Michael LaCombe, 54, will instead serve 12 months of house arrest followed by 12 months of probation.
Justice Cameron Watson determined that LaCombe didn't deserve imprisonment for his crimes because he's led a life of "exemplary service," has no prior criminal record and is remorseful, CBC reported, citing the judge’s written decision.
"This offence involved his ham-fisted attempt to engage in an extramarital affair with a friend, albeit with an extremely serious impact on [the victim]," Watson wrote.
Watson sentenced LaCombe on Monday at the Ontario Court of Justice in St. Catharines, Ont., for acts he committed in 2010. During a sentencing hearing in April, however, Watson already told LaCombe he wouldn't spend any time in jail, according to the CBC report.
Previously, a police officer in Windsor, Ont. was demoted after pleading guilty to two charges under the Police Services Act for engaging in "vexatious conduct" against lower ranking female Windsor police employees.
Assault by police officer at hotel
LaCombe was the victim's instructor when she was a teenager in the Air Cadets, and then when she was an adult, he was her mentor, assistant Crown attorney Ian Bulmer said, according to the CBC report.
LaCombe promised to write her a reference letter for when she applied to the Hamilton Police Service. The victim "desperately wanted” that job, said Bulmer.
"That was a significant degree of power held over her," he said.
In January 2010, LaCombe drove her home in his police cruiser and kissed her. However, the victim made up "excuses" to end the assault and got out of the car, defence lawyer Dean Paquette said at the sentencing hearing.
LaCombe later brought the woman to a hotel, where he reportedly assaulted her, according to the report. When the victim made it clear she was not consenting, the police officer stopped and drove her home, narrated Paquette.
LaComber later wrote a letter of recommendation for the victim, but she did report the assaults to Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) in 2021.
LaCombe's conduct "devastated" the victim who has been unable to enjoy a normal life since reporting the crime, and has been in hiding, the judge wrote. She feels isolated at work as a police officer, suffers from panic attacks and has developed a "strong fear and distrust of men," Watson wrote, according to CBC.
After the guilty decision, LaCombe resigned from the police service – before a disciplinary hearing was held, noted CBC. He was also discharged from the military, of which he'd been a member for decades.
A majority of Toronto police employees have experienced or witnessed workplace harassment, according to a previous report.
Earlier this year, the first global treaty to end violence and harassment at work officially came into force in Canada.