Man gets jail in assault of sex worker
Women’s activists decry plea deal in light of discovery of missing woman’s remains on his farm
Curtis Wayne Sagmoen, the man whose family’s Salmon Arm farm was searched by police in 2017 resulting in the discovery of a teenager’s remains, pleaded guilty Monday to assaulting a sex trade worker and received a short jail sentence amounting to time served as well as two years of probation.
The move came as Sagmoen’s four-day trial in Provincial Court in Port Coquitlam was about to open, with 16 Crown witnesses anticipated.
Lisa Jean Helps, Sagmoen’s lawyer, told Judge Robin McQuillan that the two sides were in the “final stages of resolution” and asked for some time. After several adjournments, the parties returned in the afternoon and Sagmoen, 38, entered his guilty plea to one count of the lesser offence of simple assault of the sex trade worker in Maple Ridge in January 2013.
He was initially charged with assault causing bodily harm, a more serious crime that could have resulted in a heftier sentence.
Sagmoen had contacted the victim, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, through Craigslist where she was advertising as a massage escort. The victim went to Sagmoen’s location on Gilker Hill Road in Maple Ridge and during a dispute over payment for her services, he assaulted her.
She suffered injuries to the back of her head and left the townhouse, but he followed her and the argument spilled outside and was observed by a neighbour.
RCMP were called to the scene and Sagmoen was arrested, but not taken into custody after co-operating with police. The victim got into a cab and went home to her family where she felt safe, but being employed in the sex trade, she was reluctant to go to the hospital and report what had happened, said Crown counsel Juan O’Quinn.
Helps said the dispute between her client and the victim included an issue of whether she had stolen his wallet and involved a shove that resulted in the victim hitting her head on a coffee table. She said at the time of the offence, Sagmoen was addicted to crystal methamphetamines.
In imposing sentence on Sagmoen, who has no prior criminal record but has other charges pending, the judge accepted a joint submission from Crown and defence.
“From the information that has been shared with me by both Crown and defence, I am satisfied that the joint submission that has been presented to me is an appropriate sentence and would meet the principles of denunciation and deterrence that I am required to give consideration to in crafting a sentence,” said the judge.
He gave Sagmoen a sentence of 30 days in jail, but due to credit for pre-sentence custody, it amounts to time served. The judge also ordered Sagmoen to serve 24 months probation, including an order he have no contact with the victim.
The search of the 24-acre farm turned up the remains of a missing woman, 18-year-old Traci Generaux, who struggled with addiction and at times did sex work and occurred in the context of four other women in the area having been reported missing.
Sagmoen has not been charged with any offences in connection with the farm search. But he does face several other charges, including an alleged assault in Vernon, so will remain in custody.
The sentence did not sit well with a number of women’s activists who attended the court proceedings.
Jody Leon, a member of the Secwepemc Nation, Indigenous territory where Sagmoen’s other offences are alleged to have occurred, said she was “absolutely disappointed and traumatized” for the Generaux family and the families of other missing women. She said the sentence showed a “complete and utter disregard” for women and women’s rights and questioned the plea deal by the Crown.
“Today again, women have been let down ...,” she told reporters.