No plea entered at LPS Misconduct Hearing

Five suspended Lethbridge police officers involved in the dissemination of negative memes about their former bosses, made their first appearance today at a professional misconduct hearing, but won’t enter a plea until May.

During the virtual hearing this morning, the five officers including Sgt. Jason Moulton, Cst. Keon Woroniuk, Cst. Matthew Rokkoff, Cst. Derek Riddell and Cst. David Easter were supposed to enter a plea of either guilty or not guilty to several counts of misconduct including discreditable conduct, insubordination, and neglect of duty. However, their representative Cst. Mike Darby, who is the vice-president of the Lethbridge Police Association, requested the right to reserve their plea today.  Darby, who is representing all five officers, told the presiding officer that there was some late disclosure of materials and was requesting time for those materials to be reviewed. 

The matter has now been adjourned until Thursday, May 27th where all five officers are expected to appear virtually and enter a plea of guilty or not guilty. 

Sgt. Jason Moulton faces eight counts of misconduct while the other four officers face six counts.

All five have been suspended with pay following an investigation by the Edmonton Police Service involving an incident that happened in 2018 where some disrespectful memes were created and disseminated around LPS which depicted the former LPS administration (former Chief Rob Davis and Deputy Chief Scott Woods) in a negative light.