Former OPP officer Robert Lewis to spend time behind bars

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Former OPP officer Robert Lewis to spend time behind bars

Postby Thomas » Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:46 pm

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- one count of sexual assault, two counts of indecent assault on a male and three counts of gross indecency - were withdrawn.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/
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Lewis gets eight years

Postby Thomas » Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:47 pm

(ORANGEVILLE) The man, who in 30 years as an OPP officer doubtless arrested hundreds of people, held out his hands as two police officers slapped the handcuffs on him before taking him to prison for eight years.

Robert George (Bob) Lewis, 62, his head newly shaved, towered over the officers in an Orangeville courtroom Friday (Nov. 19) after Superior Court Justice Joseph Fragomeni handed down the sentence.

The proceedings began at 11 a.m. and took about 45 minutes in a courtroom packed on one side with several victims and their families and Mr. Lewis’s wife, friends and supporters on the other.

Mr. Lewis, of Fenelon Falls, was convicted last June of 19 of the 23 sex-related charges against him. The offences dated back to the 1970s. He originally faced 25 charges, which stemmed from an investigation by Caledon OPP that began in 2006 and involved 10 male complainants.

Two of the charges were withdrawn at the Crown’s request earlier in the trial. Mr. Lewis was found guilty on counts relating to seven of the 10 men.

During his career with the OPP, Mr. Lewis was posted in Snelgrove (now Caledon), Islington, Minaki, Downsview and Coboconk. He retired in 1997.

Mr. Lewis elected to be tried by judge alone and the trial began in 2009 and ended last March.

A publication ban prevents identifying the victims, who as young boys and teenagers were molested in their homes, places of work and even in Mr. Lewis’s police cruiser.

During the sentencing hearing on Nov. 8, Crown prosecutor Mary Ellen Cullen was asking for 10 to 12 years, while defence counsel Leo Kinahan argued a sentence of about six years would be more appropriate.

At Friday’s hearing, Justice Fragomeni said that in determining the sentence, he referred to evidence in his 213-page judgement, a pre-sentence report, victim impact statements and the 44 letters of support Mr. Lewis’s friends sent to the court.

The judge said the pre-sentence report showed Mr. Lewis had a happy home life as a child, with parents in a stable marriage and an “excellent environment.” But, he noted that the suicides of two brothers (one in 1964 and another in 1994) and the death of a third from cancer in 2007 would be difficult for any family to bear.

Justice Fragomeni also noted Mr. Lewis claimed his marriage to his wife, Carol, is “rock solid.”

He declined to read each of the letters of support and the victim impact statements, choosing instead to highlight some of them. He referred to three letters that described Mr. Lewis’s long service in his community, and his “integrity.” But, looking straight at the convicted child molester, he also referred to victim impact statements that described horrible guilt for not coming forward sooner, a change in perception of law enforcement, and one man’s description of losing everything that mattered to him, including his family and his own self-worth.

Justice Fragomeni reviewed the cases both the Crown and the defence had submitted to support their arguments; cases that had reached the appeals courts for the lengths of sentences the convicted sexual predators received. In those cases, whether or not there was penetration, violence, threats and/or physical bodily harm were factors in sentencing.

But, the judge said he agreed with one of the cases where the deciding judge emphasized that a lack of penetration during sexual assaults, especially of children, “does not relegate them to the lower levels” of seriousness. In Mr. Lewis’s case, Justice Fragomeni said the primary aggravating factor is the breach of trust; not only was he a trusted friend of many of the victims’ families, but he was also a police officer.

Children, he said, are not capable of defending themselves against sexual predators - and those predators know it.

The judge noted he understood Mr. Lewis’s friends’ feelings and opinions of the disgraced former officer. But, he said, when one looks at the evidence in the judgement and the contents of the letters of support, “we’re looking at two different people.”

“The conduct (during the sexual assaults) took place in private, with only Mr. Lewis and his victim present,” the judge said.

Going further, he said that simply because there was no anal penetration or physical violence, does not mean the trauma to the victims’ emotional and psychological well-being did not exist. And, he added, the number of victims, many of whom were assaulted repeatedly over a long period of time, and often while Mr. Lewis was on duty, must be taken into account when sentencing him.

Mr. Lewis’s conduct, the judge said, was “reprehensible” and as a police officer, “disgraceful.”

While he did not hand down the double-digit sentence the Crown wanted, he dismissed the defence’s request to credit Mr. Lewis about nine months since he has been on “very restrictive” bail conditions for four years. Rather, Justice Fragomeni agreed with the Crown’s earlier assertion that Mr. Lewis has enjoyed an active social life with many friends; “the lifestyle of a retired person” since 2006.

The judge also pointed out it would not be appropriate to consider Mr. Lewis’s failure to show remorse as a factor in sentencing, as he pled not guilty and maintained his innocence throughout the trial. But he said the Court’s sentence should be one of “denunciation and deterrence,” sending the message that society will not tolerate the sexual predation of children and the destruction of their innocence.

The judge also ordered a DNA sample be taken, a weapons prohibition for 10 years, and that Mr. Lewis be added to the Sex Offenders Registry for 20 years. At the conclusion of the sentencing, he said, “Good luck, Mr. Lewis.”

As he was led away, Mr. Kinahan followed. Mrs. Lewis and her supporters immediately left the courtroom.

But, the victims who were present, the investigating police officers, the Crown and the victims’ families hugged each other, many in tears. The mood, though subdued, was jubilant.

Ms Cullen praised the victims for their courage, saying the long investigation and trial “were worth it.”

OPP Detective/Constable Steve Surmet, the lead investigator on the case, said it was difficult, as are all sexual assault investigations, but particularly because the victims were men who had to recount such intimate details to police. The fact that Mr. Lewis was a former police officer, he said, only made the investigation “more complex.”

“But, the victims showed great courage...justice has been served.” He said he hoped their example would encourage other victims to come forward.

One victim, who came thousands of miles to see justice done, had tears in his eyes as he and his mother stood together. “The sentence was what I thought it would be; I didn’t think he’d get 12 years, “ he said. “I just thought the judge didn’t weigh the fact that he was a cop as much as he should have. But, yes, it’s justice.”

The man’s mother, who has been in court throughout the trial, said she “can’t say enough” about Justice Fragomeni. “He was careful, thoughtful and did a wonderful job.”

And for the victim who started it all, the man who admitted his descent into alcohol and drug abuse, came a bittersweet victory. Mr. Lewis received the longest sentence, 24 months, on the counts relating to the assaults on that man, when he was not yet a teenager.

http://www.mykawartha.com/news-story/36 ... rs-update/
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This Week names Robert Lewis News maker of the Year for 2010

Postby Thomas » Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:48 pm

The choice of Robert Lewis as News maker of the Year may surprise many readers. But, the story of the retired OPP officer’s long journey through the legal system after he was charged with historical sex assaults on young boys is one that shocked and divided an entire community.

The trial itself did not begin until 2009, but due to legal schedules and the challenge of booking courtrooms in an already overburdened court system, the Crown presented its case in the spring of 2009 and the defence followed that fall. The trial was heard in Orangeville and final submissions in Brampton last March.

The story began when Caledon OPP launched an investigation after the first victim came forward in 2006. That man, who admittedly later descended into alcohol and substance abuse, accused Mr. Lewis of molesting him when he was a young boy. As the investigation progressed, more and more victims came forward, until there were 10 men. The charges dated back to the 1970s.

Mr. Lewis had retired in 1997 after a 30-year OPP career. The charges against the longtime Fenelon Falls resident shocked people.

When the trial finally began, the court issued a publication ban that prevented publishing any of the victims’ names or details that could lead to their idenification. That ban is still in effect.

Mr. Lewis pleaded not guilty, but was convicted last June. In November, the now 63-year-old was sentenced to eight years in prison.

This Week covered the trial when it became apparent that other papers in the area were not going to do so. But, when Mr. Lewis was first charged in 2006, we published that information, and thus, had a duty to follow the case to its conclusion.

The victims had to undergo questioning on the witness stand that was visibly painful. They had to recount graphic details of sexual assaults at Mr. Lewis’s hands when they were virtually children. And, in front of a courtroom full of spectators. It was excruciating to hear.

When Mr. Lewis testified in his defence, the more he said, the more, as the judge later noted in his judgement, he said whatever would distance himself from any interaction with the victims whatsoever. He was not believeable and he did not help his case. Although he is not a “loud” person, one would have expected a much more vigorous denial of the charges, screaming his innocence for all to hear, if you will. But, it never came.

Every time the trial was scheduled to move forward (sometimes after months of delays) our newsroom would get calls and emails from people who were following the story. They had not forgotten.

And, there were many moments that happened behind the backdrop of the drama inside the courtroom.

One police officer who spent days going through Mr. Lewis’s police notebooks (which he had kept stored in boxes for years) said it was “unbelieveable” the number of young men he had pulled over on traffic stops during his career.

Mr. Lewis’s wife, married to him for decades, stuck by him throughout. But, the strain was evident. As a witness, she was not allowed inside the courtroom for much of the testimony. Instead, she sat oustide, often working on her knitting. Sometimes, she simply stared out the window. But, her loyalty didn’t waver - she said her husband would never plead guilty to “something he didn’t do” and remains convinced those who accused him of being a pedophile were carrying grudges from years ago.

Many police officers have children. OPP officers are particularly proud of their force. To see one of their own, a man many of them knew and worked with for years convicted of child molestation was a bitter pill to swallow. “A black eye for us,” said one.

A woman who was a staunch friend of Mr. Lewis accused This Week of “making up” the voluminous trial coverage we published both in the papers and online. While that was, of course, untrue, it was an indication of how sharply the trial divided a community in which Mr. Lewis has lived for a long time.

As we heard on many occasions, there were those who simply could not believe (and still don’t) the former cop who used to patrol their streets could commit such crimes. Conversely, there were others who, considering the evidence turned from him in disgust, wanting nothing more to do with him.

Before he was sentenced, the Crown argued (unsuccessfully) that Mr. Lewis’s bail conditions did not prevent him from socializing. She said he should be jailed in the interim, as he had, since 2006 “enjoyed the life of a retired person.”

Robert Lewis once handcuffed a teenage boy as a “joke” before he molested him in his police cruiser. When the day finally came that handcuffs were put on him, the irony was not lost on those who attended the trial.

http://www.mykawartha.com/news-story/37 ... -for-2010/
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SIGHTED IN: Robert Lewis from beginning to end

Postby Thomas » Mon Apr 07, 2014 6:49 pm

It has been a long wait to be able to write what I think about the Robert Lewis case.

Last June, he was convicted of 19 sex-related crimes against young men decades ago. This week, he was sent to prison for years.

It was a long trial; split between the Crown and defence portions. I have no problem ‘bragging’ that this newspaper was the only one that saw fit to cover it from beginning to end. It was a harrowing, emotional roller-coaster that took its toll on everyone involved. That includes the lawyers, judge, victims and yes, Bob Lewis’s family, too.

Everyone, I now believe, but Bob Lewis himself.

You can’t cover a trial like that, get to know everyone and not cross paths with the accused. I sometimes chatted with Lewis and his wife. Other times, I talked to the victims or their families, the lawyers, the police officers. You are a reporter, yes, but you are also human, and you have to make the effort to understand the people who make up the story.

This is an awful one. The pain and humiliation the victims underwent on the witness stand all came back, as it did for their families watching. They somehow found the courage to talk about the terrible assaults they endured at Lewis’s hands; events that made them question their sexuality and their value as human beings.

The officers who conducted the investigation were professional and courteous to Mr. Lewis, only in private confiding their disgust and anger at his betrayal of the badge they all wear.

What is incredible was Lewis’s unshakable denials of his behaviour and his thinly-veiled attempts to mislead the court during his testimony. Worse, as the court heard, was the picture that emerged of a towering police officer who used his size and job to intimidate his victims into submitting to his perversions.

These were boys who were cornered. They did not feel they could go to their parents. They did not feel anyone would take their word over a cop’s. The police were not an option, although one witness testified he did tell another cop, to no avail.

Bob Lewis has many staunch supporters, even now. One even accused me of making up my stories “just to sell newspapers.” Many of his friends are good people. But, their loyalty, and that of his family is sadly misplaced. Bob Lewis is guilty, and he has caused a lifetime of pain and grief. He has victimized everyone who ever trusted him.

There is one more ugly part of this case.

Over the course of the trial, and talking to many of the interested followers, the horrifying possibility surfaced that long ago, there were other police officers who suspected all was not right with Bob Lewis, but turned a blind eye.

It came to my attention from many quarters, and not just victims’ families.

The victims can now sleep well at night. The same cannot be said for those who may have suspected Lewis years ago and did nothing.

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