Voyeurism charges dropped against high-risk sex offender

Investigation showed accused was not in the city at the time, prosecutor says

Voyeurism charges have been dropped against high-risk sex offender Keegan Troy Spearchief after further investigation established he was in Lethbridge at the time of the crimes.

Spearchief was arrested in connection with an incident in which an individual was seen looking into the bedroom window of a 12-yearold girl while committing a sex act.

He spent three weeks in custody before his release.

Prosecutor Richelle Freiheit told provincial court Judge Mike Dinkel on Friday there was insufficient evidence to proceed with charges against Spearchief of voyeurism and trespassing at night.

Outside court Freiheit said a further investigation determined Spearchief was outside the city when the alleged offences occurred.

“As Calgary police continued their investigation, the evidence wasn’t adding up,” Freiheit said.

“With subsequent investigation they were able to determine that Spearchief was actually in Lethbridge around the timing of the offences.”

Spearchief ’s lawyer, Ingrid Hess, said she was in the process of establishing alibi evidence for her client based on information he was in Lethbridge at the time.

“I’m glad she did the right thing and withdrew the charges,” Hess said by phone from her Lethbridge office after her client’s case was dealt with in court.

“The evidence against him consisted of one image of what appeared to be a male person that was taken at night by some kind of surveillance camera and it showed the profile, the side view of that person’s face,” Hess said.

“The person was wearing a cap. You can’t identify what race the person is, it looks like a male, but it could be a female, too,” she said. “That was the evidence they had.”

But while one individual suggested the image looked like Spearchief, leading Calgary police to issue a warrant for his arrest, Hess said there was ample evidence it wasn’t her client.

“Keegan had been living in Lethbridge for months ... He was accessing social services here in Lethbridge.”

Hess said she took on the case because a social assistance group for Indigenous people in Lethbridge called the Sage Clan indicated Spearchief could not have been in Calgary.

“They were aware that Keegan was staying down here in Lethbridge and didn’t even have the means to get up to Calgary and he had been attending all these various social agencies like the Food Bank.”

She said other agencies confirmed Spearchief was in the southern Alberta city throughout the time.

“Various people in the community, including Sage Clan members, had seen him repeatedly throughout that period that was in question here,” she said.

“There are no buses going to Calgary right now so how would he have even gotten up to Calgary and then got back here to be at these social agencies?”

Hess said as an Indigenous man, Spearchief, 34, was an easy target for a false allegation.

“Somebody told the police when they saw that picture, ‘Well that looks like Keegan Spearchief,’” she said. “Based on a really crappy photo.”