Former Lethbridge police pleads guilty; receives house arrest

A former Lethbridge police inspector has pleaded guilty to Breach of Trust while he worked at the Domestic Violence Action Centre.

Bill Kaye appeared in Lethbridge Provincial court Tuesday to make the plea, admitting to a non-consensual sexual relationship with a young woman who had come to him for help.

The charge stems from a 2021 complaint by the woman who was Kaye’s client, and a former victim of domestic abuse. The woman claimed Kaye initiated an unwelcome sexual relationship with him between December 2017 and April 2018, when the woman was 23-years-old and he was 58. The woman claimed Lethbridge Police Service did not take her complaint seriously, so, she went to the RCMP…which resulted in charges being laid against Kaye for breach of trust, sexual assault and criminal harassment.

Kaye took a plea deal and as part of his guilty plea to the breach of trust charge, all the other charges have now been dropped.

On Tuesday in his Statement of Facts, Kaye admitted to the court that his relationship with the woman had been non-consensual. He apologized to his wife, family, friends and the Lethbridge Police Service, where he had worked for 35 years, prior to becoming a victim advocate and board member at Chinook Sexual Assault Centre.  He resigned from those latter positions when the charges were brought against him. 

According to a statement sent to Bridge City News, the victim, who cannot be named, said; “When I made the decision to come forward and report the crimes committed against me, I set out to ensure no other person would be harmed the way I had been; there is no win or lose here. To me it is simple, it is about ethics, integrity, and safety; that was missing and I sought to begin to repair that.”   

On Tuesday, a judge sentenced Kaye to house arrest for 12 months, followed by a reintroduction into the community with a 12-month curfew.