A London, Ont., police officer already suspended with pay following assault charges laid in December is now facing additional charges for harassment and breaching conditions.
The London Police Service says Const. Juan Romero-Hernandez, 47, was arrested just after 1 p.m. Tuesday “in relation to a criminal harassment investigation into repeated communication with a victim over email and phone.”
Romero-Hernandez is now charged with criminal harassment by repeated communication and failure to comply with release order in addition to the assault with a weapon, resisting arrest, obstructing police and two assault counts he already faced in connection with an “incident” on Dec. 12.
The London Police Service added that all alleged incidents occurred while the officer, who has 20 years of service and remains suspended with pay, was off duty.
As of April 1, under the new Community Safety and Policing Act, police chiefs are more easily able to suspend officers without pay.
Under the old Police Services Act, the only circumstance in which a police officer wouldn’t get paid while suspended is if they were both convicted of an offence and sentenced to imprisonment.
Chiefs can now suspend without pay if an officer is in custody or on bail with conditions that would interfere with their ability to do their job, or if the officer is charged with a serious off-duty offence that could also lead to their firing.
However, in an email to Global News, the London Police Service explained that because the allegations predate April 1, “the Chief is bound by the provisions of the law that were in existence before the new Act.”
— with files from The Canadian Press’ Allison Jones
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