Police staff in first test of revenge porn law
Three-party lawsuit before Manitoba court
Three police employees are involved in a tangled, threeparty lawsuit involving an alleged jealous lover in the first test of a new Manitoba law meant to stop the spread of revenge porn.
A Brandon officer and a former civilian employee of the force, along with another man who is not a police officer, have denied spreading intimate photos of Brittany Roque, an officer in nearby Rivers, Man., to members of the Brandon Police Service.
The intimate photos were sent to Ryan Friesen, the Brandon officer, who denied spreading them. Devon LeBlanc, the non-officer, was also accused of spreading the photos.
Roque’s initial statement of claim from Nov. 20 accuses the former civilian employee, Terry Lynn Peters, of spreading the photos to the police department with intent to harm. The statement of claim cites the Intimate Image Protection Act, passed in 2016, to help stop the nonconsensual distribution of sexually explicit photos and enable victims to seek financial compensation.
Peters, in turn, made a third-party claim against the two men on April 27, saying if any distribution happened, one of them did it.
Roque’s statement of claim labels it “an act of revenge and retaliation.” It would compel Peters to give money to the Canadian Centre for Child Protection (CCCP), which combats sexual exploitation of children.
“I think people need to understand that this is unacceptable behaviour. There is a law put in place, and the police are put there to protect victims,” Roque told the CBC. Her statement of claim reads that “Revenge porn is a growing scourge that can have devastating and lifelong consequences on its victims (primarily girls and young women). The financial consequences to its perpetrators should be similarly devastating and lifelong.”
According to the CCCP, more than 1,300 Manitobans accessed online resources from the centre in the last year to deal with the growing problem. A 2016 study says that one in 25 Americans have been victims of revenge porn.
“My hope is that by coming forward and telling my side of the story, it will empower victims to come forward and not let the fear get to them,” Roque said.
Peters denied the allegations in a statement of defence filed on April 27. Rhea Majewski, her lawyer, declined comment. Peters’ statement said “if any violation of privacy occurred, the violation was limited to what was in the public interest and/or that the Defendant had a reasonable belief that the images were not private.”
According to Roque’s statement, Peters sent the intimate photos to members and senior officers of the Brandon police force, including its new chief, after she found them on Friesen’s computer. It claims that Peters lived with Friesen at the time, and did not know about his and Roque’s relationship until she found the photos.
Peters’ third-party claim was filed on the same day as her defence. It says all costs and orders should be against Friesen and LeBlanc, not her.
LeBlanc denied circulating the photos and said he doesn’t know if Friesen did it, but that Friesen had previously falsely implicated him as the sender of the photos. However, prior to Peters’ third-party claim, Friesen revoked the allegations, making Peters’ allegations against LeBlanc baseless, the statement says.
Roque’s statement also alleges that Peters used intimate photos of other women and edited Roque’s face onto them, saying they “depict” Roque’s “naked body.” In a later court document, Roque cites text messages that she allegedly received from Peters: “You put them out there smart girl. Now they’re available for the whole world to see,” and; “So when you took all those photos and got involved with someone else’s spouse I bet you never imagined that the chief of police, deputy Chiefs and who knows who else would be seeing those very same photos.”
Peters denied hacking Friesen’s computer, saying she’s always had access to his account, but Friesen said he’s the only person who knows the password.
Friesen also filed a statement of defence, denying LeBlanc was ever in possession of the photos.
Friesen’s lawyer, Kathleen Coutts, also declined comment.
Peters’ and LeBlanc’s lawyers confirmed that the case will most likely go to a pretrial to determine whether the third-party claim against LeBlanc should be dismissed.
IT WILL EMPOWER VICTIMS TO COME FORWARD.