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What 'Conclave' got right
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A Central Okanagan RCMP officer has been charged with a 2015 sexual assault in Kelowna.
Chad Lincoln Vance was a member of the RCMP Southeast District General Investigation Section before he was recently suspended with pay due to the allegation against him.
Vance, 49, is alleged to have committed sexual assault against a person in Kelowna from July 1 to July 31 of 2015, but the specifics of the allegation are unclear at this time. The charge was laid this past June.
“Const. Vance is currently suspended with pay and his duty status is subject to continual review and assessment,” Staff-Sgt. Janelle Shoihet told Castanet. “Internal Code of Conduct processes have been initiated and are currently underway.”
Last month, Vance elected to have a trial in front of a provincial court judge, but a date has yet to be set.
In January of this year, Vance was also charged with assaulting a woman in August 2018, but the Crown stayed that charge last month.
On Tuesday, Vance's lawyer Wade Jenson appeared in Kelowna court for a pretrial conference with Vancouver-based Crown prosecutor Dan Prium. Prosecutors from out of town are regularly used when the accused could possibly have a relationship with local lawyers.
Counsel agreed the trial will take between four and five days. A trial date is expected to be set after counsel meets again in late January.
Vance's charge comes to light after it was reported this week that a Kelowna RCMP officer was suspended after he allegedly sent sexually explicit text messages to a victim in a case he was involved in.
Additionally, Kelowna RCMP officer Brian Burkett was charged in July with multiple counts of breach of trust for allegedly pursuing sexual relationships with women in connection with his duties as an officer in 2015 and 2016. Burkett quit the RCMP in August 2017 after he had been suspended with pay.
Meanwhile, the entire Kelowna RCMP detachment came under fire in October when recent stats showed Kelowna police dismissed 40 per cent of sexual assault cases in 2018 and 2019, dwarfing the provincial average of 15 per cent.
