A Kelowna, B.C., outreach worker who has spent much of the last decade working with women in the Okanagan sex trade industry is calling for stiffer sanctions to be applied on known offenders.
Angie Lohr, co-founder Hope Outreach, said on Friday that she’s frustrated to learn that Curtis Sagmoen — a man with a history of violence against women in the sex trade — is charged with breaching conditions of his probation or release orders on 14 occasions last year.
Some of the breaches were laid out in a Feb. 3 court document that shows all are in the North Okanagan and the most recent dates back to April this year.
A number of Sagmoen’s probation orders are constructed around keeping him sober and from interacting with the sex trade in any way.
“We work with a lot of sex trade workers (through) our organization and we’re always trying to promote advocacy and awareness around sex work,” Lohr said.
“It’s very frustrating when you see someone continuing to disregard their probation orders.”
Lohr’s organization and others that work with people in the sex trade have an alert, or a bad date, system to ensure women remain across the Okanagan and B.C.
“(It’s) just explaining that alert, what the perpetrator might look like and what exactly happened, never mentioning the sex-trade workers names or those people that might have been assaulted,” Lohr said.
It’s a warning that police have amplified in the past. In April 2022, Mounties issued a warning to sex trade workers to not respond to any requests for their services in the area where Sagmoen lives.
In an emailed statement, the BC Prosecution Service said the Crown sought the detention of Sagmoen in May 2022 when a smaller number of breach charges were originally sworn.
“The court ordered his release on cash bail with strict conditions. The recently sworn charges relate to incidents that predate the previous bail hearing. As these matters remain before the court the BCPS will have no further comment.”
Sagmoen was convicted on Feb. 11, 2020, of assault causing bodily harm after running over a sex trade worker with a quad on his family’s Salmon River Road property.
Before that, in December 2019, he was found guilty of disguising his face with intent to commit an indictable offence, using a firearm during an offence and possession of methamphetamine.
One of the more well-known cases tied to Sagmoen is the disappearance of Traci Generoux. His farm near Silver Creek was where her remains were discovered in 2017. Police said her death was suspicious but no one has been charged.
Sagmoen will be back in court for the breach charges on Feb. 22.