RCMP officer faces sex assault charge, police watchdog says

An Alberta Mountie has been charged in an alleged 2018 sexual assault, says the province's police watchdog.

The officer is accused of committing a “serious sexual assault” at the Edmonton home of a woman he was dating sometime between July 30 and Sept. 3 of 2018, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) said in a Monday news release. The officer was off duty at the time.

The woman said she was attempting to end the relationship when she was attacked, ASIRT says.

Susan Hughson, ASIRT'S executive director, decided the officer should be charged after seeking the Crown's opinion, and after ASIRT'S investigation found “reasonable grounds” to believe an offence was committed.

Cpl. Kire Kondoski was arrested and charged with one count of sexual assault on Friday. He was released with conditions and told to appear at Edmonton provincial court on March 4.

RCMP spokesman Fraser Logan said Monday the officer was moved to an administrative role when the allegations first surfaced.

“This member is not doing frontline police work, they are not suspended with pay, they are still employed in an administrative role,” he said.

The RCMP decided not to suspend Kondoski with or without pay at the time, but officers' duty statuses are reviewed every 90 days.

Kondoski was one of two officers from the Stony Plain RCMP detachment who fatally shot an Onoway man who was armed with a knife and threatening to kill someone in January 2012.

Both were cleared during a fatality inquiry in 2015.

The judge ruled the use of force was reasonable for the officers to protect both themselves and the others in the apartment.

The two officers had arrived at the apartment complex after being called about a man with a machete, and had been told there was a baby in the unit.

Darby Mahon died from multiple gunshots to his torso and lower limbs.