A preliminary hearing began on Monday for a Red Deer RCMP officer charged with sexual assault.
Const. Jason Tress faces two counts of sexual assault and two counts of breach of trust arising out of incidents involving three women in 2012 and 2016.
The preliminary hearing before Red Deer Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Richard Neufeld is expected to last all week.
Preliminary hearings are held to determine if there is enough evidence to take a case to trial. Evidence presented at a preliminary hearing is covered by a publication ban.
Charges were laid against Tress in March 2017 after Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) investigated an allegation that an RCMP officer sexually assaulted a woman in 2016 at the Red Deer detachment.
It is alleged two of the incidents occurred while the officer was on duty.
That allegation led to further investigation and other charges.
Two of the alleged incidents occurred while the officer was posted in Red Deer. He was at a rural detachment when the alleged 2012 incident occurred.
Tress, then an eight-year officer, was suspended with pay in August 2016 as a result of the initial allegations.