Montreal police officer charged with sexual assault

Warning: This report contains graphic details.

An Ontario woman visiting Montreal last year says she was arrested, injured by police and then, hours later, sexually assaulted by an off-duty officer in her hotel room.

The woman, whose identity is protected by the courts, said officer Roger Fréchette drove her to her hotel from a downtown police station after his shift ended early on the morning of Feb. 19, 2019 and followed her inside.

“He was touching my private parts,” the 41-year-old woman told The Canadian Press in a recent interview. “He made me put my hand on his private parts. He kept telling me over and over again to take a shower.”

Fréchette, 55, has been charged with one count of sexual assault following an investigation by Quebec’s police watchdog, the Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes, or BEI. A summons was issued for his arrest on Feb. 18, 2020. Records show Fréchette appeared in court through a lawyer on April 1.

Esther Tremblay, spokeswoman for the BEI, confirmed the agency’s investigation into Fréchette had been completed and he has been charged. “This is the first Montreal police officer who has been charged following a BEI investigation,” she said. The BEI launched in 2016.

The Montreal police would not comment on Fréchette’s case. In an unsigned email response, the media relations department said the police force “cannot comment on specific cases, nor confirm or deny that an investigation is underway concerning an individual.” It later said Fréchette “is currently suspended with pay.”

An investigator with the BEI told the alleged victim by email that Fréchette “has been suspended from duty and has no access to weapons.”

The allegations against Fréchette have not been proven, and messages from The Canadian Press to his lawyer were not immediately returned. Court documents state Frechette is due in court July 6.

The woman was visiting Montreal in February 2019 with her then-boyfriend to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

On the night of Feb. 18, the couple got into a heated argument downtown and four Montreal police officers showed up in two vehicles. She admits to being belligerent and resisting the police after officers became aggressive with her, tackling her to the ground, injuring her face, head and shoulder.

The woman said her ex-boyfriend had prior convictions and wasn’t supposed to be drinking, and police arrested him.

She was brought to a downtown police station strapped to a wheelchair, she said, and placed alone in a detention cell. She said she had urinated on herself and was bruised from the arrest.

Fréchette, she said, was not an arresting officer but was at the police station when she arrived. She alleges he walked over to her cell repeatedly and complimented her on her appearance.

He brought her a pair of jeans and pink boxer shorts. She said he watched her change clothes in her cell and commented on her genitals and expressed his desire to have sex.

Around 5 a.m., after several hours in detention, the woman said Fréchette let her out of her cell and left the station. She said she found herself outside, not dressed for the February cold and without any money.

Across the street, she said, a small car was flashing its headlights. She walked up to the vehicle and saw Fréchette alone at the wheel. It was his personal vehicle, she said.

“He said, ‘I will drive you back to your hotel.’ I said, ‘OK.’ I was desperate.”

She said he drove her to her hotel and followed her into her room. “He tried to get me to take a shower,” she said. “He was licking me. He tried to get me to sleep with him.”

She said she remembers that he forced her hand on his crotch, on top of his pants.

At no point during the night were any of his advances welcome, she said, adding that she felt trapped and didn’t want to upset him.

“My brain just blocked out whatever happened. I know he did stuff to me.” She does not, however, remember having sex with Fréchette.

She said after a certain time — she does not know how long — she began to slam her fists into her thighs and yelling. Not long after, she said, he left.

Since the incident, the single mother said she is afraid to leave her home. She said she wanted to come forward to help other women who have had similar experiences.

“It was not easy to do,” she said, about telling her story. “But I had to take my power back.”