Former Penticton RCMP officer sentenced for harassment

A former Penticton RCMP officer will avoid a jail sentence after admitting to harassing the wife of a fellow Mountie she was having an affair with.

Rachelle Blanchard, 35, received a conditional discharge and one year of probation Monday in Penticton after pleading guilty to one count of criminal harassment, related to her attempts to break up the marriage of a police officer she was romantically involved with. The discharge means the conviction will be wiped from her record after completing the term of probation.

Court heard Blanchard and another Penticton RCMP officer, Const. Martin Degan, started sleeping together sometime in late 2013. Both were married with children at the time.

“Ms. Blanchard believed that Const. Degan was going to leave his wife, and she was thinking the same would happen with her husband,” said defence lawyer Ian McAndrews.

“One day, Constable Degan says to her, ‘you know what, it’s not going to happen, it’s cheaper to keep her,’” McAndrews added.

What followed was a series of steps taken by Blanchard to destroy the marriage of Const. Degan and his wife, Gail McDiarmid.

In Sept. 2016 Blanchard ordered personal lubricant and lingerie to McDiarmid’s home in Summerland. In late 2016 and early 2017, she sent anonymous text messages to Const. Degan, alleging his wife was having an affair.

Around that time, Blanchard created a Facebook page under a pseudonym and posted images of McDiarmid with false allegations that she has previously broken up several marriages by having affairs. 

In March 2017, Blanchard used a fake email account to submit a false complaint to Interior Health, McDiarmid’s employer, alleging she improperly accessed the records of a fictitious child while working as a nurse. An Interior Health investigation found the complaint to be unsubstantiated. 

In June 2017, Blanchard ordered children’s books on how to cope with divorce to McDiarmid’s home. 

Finally, in July 2017, Blanchard created a false online dating profile using pictures of McDiarmid and sent a male date to her home. When met with a man at her front door expecting a dinner date, McDiarmid called the police.

The Summerland RCMP’s investigation identified Blanchard as a possible suspect early on and Crown prosecutor Don Montrichard said Const. Degan was also interviewed. 

“It was suspected by the investigators that Const. Degen was aware of the identity of the person involved in the criminal harassment of Ms. McDiarmid, but that he had not provided that information to investigators and he may have obstructed the investigation,” Montrichard said.

Evidence against Const. Degan never met the standard required for charges, the prosecutor added. 

Blanchard, however, was extremely cooperative and confessed to being the harasser during three interviews that spanned eight hours. She also volunteered investigators her laptop where corroborating evidence was found. Court heard the Crown would not have had a case if not for Blanchard's confession.

Both Blanchard and Const. Degan were suspended in August 2017. Around the same time, Blanchard was formally diagnosed with severe post traumatic stress disorder related to previous unrelated experiences as a police officer.

Blanchard was medically discharged from the RCMP in May 2018 due to her PTSD and will never serve as a police officer again. This summer, she received a six-figure settlement as a part of the class-action suit launched by female RCMP officers over discrimination and sexual harassment in the force.

Const. Degan remains on administrative leave. Both Blanchard’s and Degan’s marriages have now ended and are tied up in contentious Family Law proceedings. 

McAndrews said his client’s actions were a result of previously untreated PTSD. Blanchard struggled to mentally cope with child sex abuse investigations — as a female officer she was often the child interviewer. 

In her 11 years as a Mountie, she responded to multiple fatal drownings, a fatal shooting in which she was unable to save the victim’s life and suicides. Court heard of Blanchard having to conduct next-of-kin notifications in the suicide death of a 14 year old.

She was also sexually harassed by fellow RCMP officers, and obtained a “Class 5” settlement from the RCMP, with “Class 6” being the highest possible. McAndrews said Blanchard has attended close to 50 treatment sessions since her arrest to deal with her PTSD and depression. 

Both the Crown and defence agreed that jail time would be too harsh of a sentence, but argued over whether Blanchard should have received a conditional or absolute discharge. 

The defence suggested that subjecting Blanchard to a term of probation before her criminal record is cleared is unnecessary given her unlikeliness to reoffend. The Crown pointed to Blanchard being a police officer at the time of the offense and the need to maintain the public’s trust in the RCMP as reason for a period of probation rather than an absolute discharge.

Judge Richard Miller sided with the Crown.

“This crime was not impulsive or spontaneous. It was thought out and committed over many months. It had an intended devastating impact on its victim,” the judge said. “The offender claimed to be ‘in a fog’ but her mind was clear enough to think through several complex actions in her ongoing harassment of the victim.”

When given the chance to speak, Blanchard apologized profusely.

“The last few years and before that is a big blur and big spiral. What you heard about, my medical struggles, is just a piece of it,” she said. 

The terms of her one-year probation order includes 50 hours of community service, not contacting the victim or publishing anything about her on social media, attend counselling and a 10 year gun ban.