For the first time in its history, the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) has charged an officer with fraud or theft.
After an investigation by ASIRT that started in February, former Spruce Grove/Stony Plain RCMP officer Aaron Sayler, 30, was charged with theft under $5,000, obtaining by false pretences, uttering a forged document and fraud under $5,000.
ASIRT alleges the officer took an airsoft pistol instead of seizing it after finding it in a vehicle he was searching while on duty in March 2015.
He is also accused of committing insurance fraud by allegedly creating a false hit-and-run report that he submitted to his insurance company to get $1,600 in October 2014.
“We received information from an individual who was aware of the insurance claim and we also received information with respect to the seizure from the vehicle, ” ASIRT executive director Susan Hughson said.
ASIRT received tips from more than one person about the two alleged incidents, and its investigation concluded no other RCMP members were involved.
It’s the first time ASIRT has charged an RCMP officer with theft or fraud, according to Hughson.
“When an officer is charged with these types of offences, it diminishes public confidence and it leaves the public worried that there are other officers doing the same things,” Hughson said.
“It really is an unfair colouring or tainting of the many good women and men that we have in our police services in this province and it makes their job a little bit harder.”
Sayler was suspended from duty in February of this year. The RCMP said his suspension “was standard RCMP practice and not a disciplinary measure.”
Sayler resigned from the RCMP Wednesday.
He was with the RCMP for nearly nine years.
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