Female Mountie gets medical discharge for sex with boss in police car, board rules
A female Mountie will be docked seven days pay and should receive a medical discharge as punishment for having sex in a police car with her boss, a discipline board ruled Thursday.
The three- officer RCMP panel decided not to fire RCMP Const. Susan Gastaldo after finding her guilty last December of disgraceful conduct.
But board chairman Supt. John Reid was critical of Gastaldo’s misconduct, noting she repeatedly lied about having an affair with her boss.
The chair said Gastaldo has lost all credibility and should receive a medical discharge.
A medical discharge would let Gastaldo, a 14- year veteran of the force, to leave with pension and other benefits.
The panel also decided that Gastaldo must continue psychological counselling.
Gastaldo’s lawyer, Larry Mcgonigal, said outside court his client will appeal the decision to the head of the RCMP, Commissioner Bob Paulson.
He said the discipline board erred in fact and law by excluding expert medical evidence and ruling this week that there was no bias against Gastaldo, 41.
A day earlier, Mcgonigal argued that it would be unfair to terminate his client, who would lose roughly $ 4 million in future salary and benefits at this point in her career.
Her boss, Staff Sgt. Travis Pearson, who initiated the sexual relationship, was docked 10 days pay, Mcgonigal noted.
He also said firing would discourage people within the RCMP from filing sexual harassment complaints.
Mcgonigal said Gastaldo was in an awkward position and refused her boss’s advances three times, but finally gave in.
When the affair began in May 2009, Gastaldo was suffering from emotional health problems.
Pearson was asked to try to get Gastaldo back to work, but instead began a sexual relationship with her as she returned to work part- time.
The affair was discovered in August 2009 by Gastaldo’s husband, Chris Williams.
The misconduct hearing heard allegations from Gastaldo that she was coerced into having the affair. The board rejected her claims, which included an allegation of rape, and found the affair consensual because of 120 phone calls and 160 emails between the two from May to August 2009.
When Pearson was confronted about the affair by his commanding officer, he said he and Gastaldo were just friends. The board chairman said earlier the adjudicators would have demoted Pearson if the more serious allegation of lying to a superior had been known.
Gastaldo has filed a civil lawsuit, alleging the RCMP offered to drop the discipline proceeding if she stopped her suit.