The investigation into allegations that a British Columbia woman drugged and robbed men who hired her as an escort – leaving one victim dead – was marked by “professional negligence, recklessness and operational failures.” according to recently released court documents.

Judge Mark Jette made his comments on police conduct during the sentencing of Jessica Kane, who pleaded guilty to six counts of theft over $5,000 in April this year. Kane was initially charged with 21 felonies.

The other 15 charges – one count of manslaughter, seven counts of administering a drug with intent to commit an indictable offence, four counts of fraud, two counts of extortion and one additional count of theft over $5,000 – were suspended following sentencing.

“The Crown’s theory was that Ms. Kane, while working as an escort, drugged a series of clients and then stole their personal property and/or money from their bank and credit card accounts,” the court said. decision of August 30.

In an agreed statement of facts, Kane admitted to thefts totaling $92,650, including one instance where she took $50,000 in cash from a man’s closet. All six victims were men who contacted Kane through the website LeoList with the intention of paying her and a second unnamed woman for sexual services.

“MS. Kane admits that five of the named victims were heavily intoxicated and a sixth was in medical distress when she committed the theft offenses,” the ruling states, adding that Kane did not admit to drugging the men and that the agreed statement of facts was “silent” on whether she provided sexual services to men.

The guilty pleas came after a series of preliminary hearings in which Jette identified 20 separate violations of Kane’s Charter rights during an 18-month investigation.

The investigation

In July 2021, a Surrey RCMP officer took a statement from a man who said “he contacted women for sexual services on LeoList, two of them came to his house and he been drugged and robbed,” according to the decision.

This man subsequently decided that he did not want to pursue the complaint and the file was closed.

Const. Sarah Hunter, who worked with the detachment’s Community Response Unit, was searching the police database for “possible investigative projects” and identified the July 2021 complaint as one of three files with “common characteristics,” the court heard.

“Charter violations and other allegations of police misconduct began shortly after Const. Hunter first became interested,” the decision states.

Once Kane was identified as a suspect, Hunter contacted Yellow Cab, Holt Renfrew, LeoList and a building manager at the condo where Kane lived.

“(Hunter) obtained records and other information from all of these sources without prior judicial authorization,” the ruling states, identifying this as a violation of Kane’s right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, and noting that this initial violation was one of a series of errors made by Hunter that had a domino effect.

The investigation was taken over by the Surrey RCMP Major Crime Unit, where the judge said “sloppy police work and lack of attention to detail led to a series of additional offenses.”

These included failing to tell Kane that she was under arrest for manslaughter, failing to respect her right to consult with an attorney, and illegally seizing evidence.

“Lack of care and recklessness was a common feature of their dealings with Ms. Kane,” the judge said, describing the conduct of the Major Crimes Unit.

Kane’s rights were also violated in a “disturbing” manner by a member of the Vancouver Police Department, the decision states.

Sgt. Shannon, whose first name is not included in the decision, was working on a case in which Kane claimed he was the victim of a break-in and theft at his home.

During the investigation, he obtained “private information” from Kane and CCTV footage from his building, which he then transmitted to Hunter, “for a dual purpose and without Kane’s consent,” the statement said. decision, finding it to be a violation. of his right to life, liberty and security of person.

CTV News has reached out to Surrey RCMP and the VPD to inquire whether any of the named officers have been subject to professional disciplinary action. This story will be updated if a response is received.

The sentence

At the time of sentencing, Kane had been in jail for 467 days – since his arrest for violating his bail conditions. She was credited with 686 days in custody, which equates to just under 23 months.

“MS. Kane has credit for time served that exceeds the prison sentence that would normally be warranted for these offenses,” Jette noted, before imposing a suspended sentence accompanied by two additional years of probation and denying the request for conditional release of his lawyer.

Violations of Kane’s Charter rights were considered one of the mitigating factors in this case.

“Courts can use several means to communicate to the general public that state conduct that fails to meet constitutional standards will have consequences when charges are brought before the courts for adjudication. Mitigating the sentence is one of them,” the decision states.

The judgment also says the guilty pleas were entered when Kane had “other viable litigation options”, noting that an application to stay the proceedings entirely on the grounds of abuse of process had been made and “not without merit” .

Kane’s lack of criminal record was also mitigating, as was the 32-year-old’s “troubled” past.

The court heard Kane’s parents both had substance abuse problems, his father was mostly absent but physically abusive towards Kane’s mother when he was present. Kane was “in and out of foster care” between the ages of six and ten, then dropped out of school at 16 and entered the sex trade as a minor.

“Sex work can be a dangerous business, and Ms. Kane reports numerous instances where she was physically assaulted and traumatized by clients,” the ruling states.

The decision also states that Kane was the subject of “numerous threats and assaults” while incarcerated, which was also treated as mitigating.

The aggravating factors in this case were that Kane had committed multiple offenses involving multiple victims over an extended period of time. Jette also said no evidence was presented to demonstrate that Kane stole out of necessity and that the motive was greed.

The ruling also says Kane violated his victims’ trust in their own home and preyed on them when they were drunk and vulnerable.

Four of the victims filed statements with the court, and Jette said they established the impact of Kane’s actions as an additional aggravating factor – with a caveat.

“This factor is somewhat attenuated when victims complain that they were forced to reveal to people close to their lives that they had retained the services of an escort and that this disclosure had certain negative consequences,” writes Jette .

“In my opinion, ‘being discovered’ is a known risk when engaging in behavior like this. It follows that some of the damage falls into the category of “self-inflicted injuries”.

The terms of Kane’s probation require him to refrain from any communication with his victims and prohibit him from having in his possession any identification documents, including credit and debit cards, or any account information other than his own. Kane was also ordered to pay nearly $90,000 in restitution to five victims.