Former OPP officer Robert Lewis to spend more time behind bars after guilty plea
The former Fenelon Falls resident is currently serving an eight-year prison sentence and will serve an additional year after pleading guilty in Lindsay court on Monday (April 7)
(LINDSAY) A retired OPP officer currently serving a prison sentence for historical sex-related offences pled guilty to two more charges he was facing from a second investigation that started in 2009.
Robert George ‘Bob’ Lewis, 67, was scheduled to go on trial in Lindsay on Monday (April 7) on the eight charges, but instead pled guilty to one count of sexual assault and one count of indecent assault on a male.
The charges relate to two of three male complainants who originally went to police in 2009, which resulted in eight charges.
The remaining charges - one count of sexual assault, two counts of indecent assault on a male and three counts of gross indecency - were withdrawn.
All of the charges were laid following investigations into allegations that dated back to the 1970s and 1980s when Mr. Lewis was actively serving as an OPP officer.
When the charges were laid, Mr. Lewis was on trial in Orangeville for 23 sex-related charges that stemmed from an investigation begun by Caledon OPP in 2006 and involving 10 male complainants. Those victims testified Mr. Lewis molested them when they were teenagers; he was often on duty when the assaults occurred.
Mr. Lewis elected to be tried by judge alone. In June of 2009, he was convicted of 19 charges relating to seven complainants and sentenced to eight years in prison.
A publication ban prevents publishing names of the victims or details that could identify them.
Mr. Lewis had a 30-year career with the OPP and was posted to Downsview, Islington, Minaki, Snelgrove (now Caledon) and Coboconk. He retired in 1997.
On Monday, Mr. Lewis sat in the prisoner’s box as Crown prosecutor Felicity Hawthorne and defence counsel Leo Kinahan presented the agreed statement of facts before Justice Ferguson.
Court heard the sexual assault happened one night in 1987 when the victim, who knew Mr. Lewis from his community and as a family friend, noticed the officer, on duty at the time, parked in his cruiser. The victim parked his own car and went over to speak to Mr. Lewis, who offered him a ridealong.
As the pair drove along, Mr. Lewis began telling a joke, laying his hand on the victim’s leg and then moving it to his genital area. He left his hand there for “about three minutes”, court heard, leaving the victim wondering “if it was part of the joke.”
Court heard as Mr. Lewis drove the victim back to his car, “there was silence in the cruiser...no one said anything.” But, the victim, who was not sure if Mr. Lewis’ actions were part of the joke, was not sure what to do.
The second assault happened in a different community in the 1970s. The victim, a teenager at the time, also knew the officer from his community, and was driving to his family home when he noticed Mr. Lewis’s cruiser following him. Court heard the officer parked his cruiser at the secluded property and began showing the teenager police hold moves used to subdue people.
Mr. Lewis opened the trunk of the cruiser to prevent the pair from being seen from the house, court heard. He pulled the boy’s pants down, telling him it was a move police used to prevent a suspect getting away, and then fondled the boy’s genitals.
One of the victims declined to have his impact statement read aloud; the Crown instead gave it to the judge. The second man wished to do so, and in a clear voice, outlined the shame and trauma he hid for years.
He told the Court of how, after Mr. Lewis molested him, he went home, took a shower “and threw my jeans in the trash.” But, he said he was intimidated by Mr. Lewis’ size (at well over six feet) and the fact that he was a police officer.
As Mr. Lewis stared at him, the man said, “You knew it and you took full advantage of it.”
Over the years, he said, he often saw Mr. Lewis in the community but kept his secret hidden, because he said no one would believe it if he accused a police officer, and he was afraid of what might happen if he did.
The man said he told no one what had happened as the years passed, not even his family. Court heard he was still reluctant to come forward in 2006 after he learned Mr. Lewis was arrested because he wanted to shield his family. But, seeing the 2009 trial coverage “in Lindsay This Week...and reading his denials” helped him find the courage to go to police.
“Getting this out was the hardest thing I’ve ever done,” he said.
The judge sentenced Mr. Lewis to one year on each charge, to be served concurrently, but added to his original eight-year sentence for a total of nine years. He began serving his sentence in November of 2010.
http://www.therecord.com/news-story/445 ... ilty-plea/