Officer faces 21 charges, including sex assault
A suspended Ottawa police officer has been charged with a lengthy list of offences against women he met on dating sites, including sexual assault, pointing his police-issued service pistol, uttering threats and harassment.
Const. Eric Post, 47, was arrested by sexual assault detectives Wednesday morning, with tactical officers standing by at the ready, after a months-long investigation into both his on- and off-duty conduct.
Post faces a total of 21 charges, the most criminal charges ever faced by a member of the Ottawa police, according to a search of the Citizen’s archives, dating back to 1987.
He appeared in court Wednesday where he was formally charged with two counts of sexual assault, pointing his police gun at a woman during what’s believed to have been an on-duty sexual assault, careless storage of his police gun by leaving it unattended during an encounter with a woman, two counts of possessing a dangerous weapon, four counts of harassment by repeated communication via text and phone calls, two counts of uttering threats, five counts of assault, intimidation by threat of violence, forcible entry and two counts of forcible confinement.
Post appeared by video remand, wearing a red T-shirt and greystriped pullover, and showed no emotion during his brief court appearance.
The court imposed a sweeping publication ban that covers the names and any identifying information related to the four victims involved in the case.
The judge also imposed an order that prohibits Post from communicating with any of the complainants or potential witnesses in the case.
Post was suspended by the force in June amid the investigation, and will remain suspended as the case plays out before the courts.
Before his suspension, Post was a patrol officer and had previously worked as a general assignment detective.
Criminal charges against any Ontario officer typically automatically trigger an investigation by the force’s anti-misconduct officers, but in this case two different units are investigating Post. The complainants have detailed allegations of repeated harassment and stalking to police.
The Citizen has learned that Ottawa police professional standards investigators continue to investigate Post’s conduct with several more women.
Ottawa police informed the Special Investigations Unit, which investigates incidents of sexual assault involving police officers, but the SIU determined that the allegations didn’t fall under its mandate because the incidents involve women that Post was dating.
Internal investigators, who have yet to lay disciplinary charges against Post, are also investigating multiple breaches of the police force’s database, which allegedly saw Post run the names and per- sonal information of women he met on dating sites and people with whom they were previously in relationships with. That investigation is also probing whether Post breached policies by allegedly deploying his Taser for no police purpose in the presence of a woman and allegedly sending nude pictures while posing with his gun.
Post’s Ottawa police email was also implicated in the Ashley Madison email hack that occurred in the summer of 2015. That hack saw the emails of thousands of users of the dating website, which specializes in extramarital relationships, leaked to the public. It’s unknown whether Post was disciplined for that or if that is part of the current disciplinary investigation.
In a news release, Chief Charles Bordeleau called the allegations and charges “very serious.”
“They run counter to our values, and I recognize this information will be disturbing to hear for our community and the members of our service,” he said.
“We must now allow the court process to proceed. I want to thank the investigators who have worked on this file for their professionalism.”
The service is asking anyone with information about the case to call a police tip line at 613-2361222, ext. 5760, or send an email to mcm@ottawapolice.ca.
They run counter to our values,andI recognize this information will be disturbing to hear for our community and the members of our service.