Salmon Arm dentist fined $100K for 'unprecedented campaign of threats' against ex

Fined for 'abusive' posts

Photo: KTW file photo

Robert Johnson was fined $100,000 for for continuing to post denigrating things about his ex-wife on social media in violation of two separate court orders.

A Salmon Arm dentist's bitter divorce has resulted in a judge ordering him to pay more than $100,000 in fines due to “an unprecedented campaign of threats and harassment” against his ex-wife.

In a judgement published on Jan. 29, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Francesca Marzari said Robert Douglas Johnson had made hundreds of social media posts that included threats of violence against his ex-wife and her new partner.

“The evidence in this case establishes that [Johnson’s] social media posts perpetuate past and continuing acts of family violence and controlling behaviours in ways that are harmful to both [his ex-wife] and to the children,” Marzari said.

She said while the posts are not directed at the children, the kids are aware of and harmed by Johnson’s “uncontrolled attacks on their mother’s integrity, safety, and family and legal support systems.”

'Cycles of unregulated anger'

Johnson and his ex-wife, who is also a dentist, met while they were both students at a dentistry school in Alberta and were married in Kelowna in 2007.

After they graduated, they bought a dental practice in Salmon Arm in 2009 and worked together until 2022, when Johnson left the practice and began his own dental company about one year after their separation.

The couple had three children together. Johnson’s ex-wife told the judge he was generally a good father, but he "went through cycles of unregulated anger," and she had to protect the children from his behaviours.

“While he did not physically harm her or the children during these periods, he was verbally abusive, and punched the walls of the family home, including in the children’s rooms, with enough force to leave dents in the walls on several occasions,” Marzari said.

The children were 6, 9, and 11 years old in August 2021, when Johnson’s ex-wife told him she wanted to separate.

The couple originally tried to share parenting responsibilities equally, but by July 2022, Johnson began taking the children only every other weekend at his own request.

Johnson’s ex-wife said her current relationship began in December 2022. Johnson said he believed the relationship started before the two had separated, but Marzari said Johnson was unable to provide any evidence backing up his claim.

Anger fuelled by social media

Marzari said Johnson “has regularly engaged in psychological and emotional abuse of [his ex-wife] and the children.”

Johnson was also found to regularly yell at and belittle his children.

“Another very disturbing theme in this and other communications between [Johnson] and his children is [him] telling them that no one loves them,” Marzari said.

She said she believes Johnson’s anger is at the heart of his issues and has been “further fuelled by external media content, from which he has found validation.”

Johnson has a public Facebook page with nearly two thousand followers where he has posted about 35 times in the past 24 hours as of the time of writing. He primarily re-posts content railing against family court. He also continues to make posts accusing his ex-wife of having an affair and committing “psychological abuse” against their children.

In the 2024 provincial election, Johnson ran unsuccessfully as the libertarian candidate for the Vernon-Lumby riding and in 2022, he generated controversy after posting a video speaking against the vaccine mandate for health professionals.

Johnson’s ex-wife obtained a protection order against him in January of 2025 prohibiting him from making any direct or indirect contact with her or the children.

He has since been charged with violating that order and has a trial date for those charges coming later this year.

“My greatest concern, however, is that [Johnson] has taken no steps to manage or take responsibility for his impulsivity or his temper to ensure that he does not continue to treat his children or their mother in this way,” Marzari said.

“Up to the date of trial, he felt fully vindicated and justified in doing so, and even at trial continued to believe his angry and abusive rants were for the common good (if not good for the children).”

Marzari said Johnson made repeated promises during the trial to “delete all of his angry and abusive posts” about his ex-wife.

“Unfortunately, within a few weeks of the conclusion of trial, [Johnson] began to post the same type of content to his public Facebook account that at trial he had committed to removing,” she said.

$100,000 fine for posts

Marzari ordered Johnson to pay a $100,000 fine to his ex-wife due to his behaviour.

This fine, along with retroactive child support and other outstanding court fines, means Johnson owed his ex-wife a total of $258,981.

However after taking into account money his ex-wife owed to Johnson from the division of family property, he has been left owing her a sum of $95,411.

Marzari also said she was forced to set a 60-day deadline for the payment after Johnson told the court he would refuse to pay any retroactive child support.

If Johnson fails to pay the $95,411 to his ex-wife within 60 days, she will be able to sell the family home he is currently living in and take the money from the proceeds.