Police – New evidence reopened Hockey Canada sex assault case

Kristen Shilton, ESPN NHL reporterFeb 5, 2024, 03:55 PM ET

CloseKristen Shilton is a national NHL reporter for ESPN.

LONDON, Ontario — The London Police Service cited a discovery of new evidence for reopening an investigation into an alleged sexual assault involving five players from Canada’s 2018 World Junior hockey team.

Chief Thai Truong and Detective Sgt. Katherine Dann of the LPS’s Sexual Assault and Child Abuse Section met with the media Monday to provide details on where the case stands after charges were formally laid nearly six years after the original complaint in June 2018.

Truong confirmed that Philadelphia’s Carter Hart, Calgary’s Dillon Dube, New Jersey’s Cal Foote and Michael McLeod, and former Ottawa Senator Alex Formenton (who has played recently in Switzerland) surrendered to London police in recent days to be charged with sexual assault. Hart, Dube, Foote and Formenton were each charged with a count of sexual assault, and McLeod faced a second charge for “being a party to the offense.”

In his opening remarks, Truong said there were “insufficient grounds” after the first investigation to bring charges in the case, which was closed in February 2019. He then apologized to the woman who filed the original complaint that it “took so long to reach this point” and said she had fully cooperated with police from the start of their inquiries.

Neither Truong nor Dann spearheaded the first investigation, but Dann was asked to launch a new inquest in July 2022.

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“Upon review of the [initial] occurrence, it was determined that there were additional steps that could be taken to advance the investigation,” said Dann. “When the case was reopened in 2022, our team explored investigative opportunities in addition to the [original] team investigation. Those leads were followed, and additional witnesses were spoken to and we collected more evidence.”

Dann also read a statement from the woman’s representatives, stating that, “It takes an incredible…

Source link : https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/39465918/police-new-evidence-reopened-hockey-canada-sex-assault-case

Author : Kristen Shilton

Publish date : 2024-02-05 21:24:28

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