Officer reprimanded for role in Lethbridge 'MemeGate' scandal involving former MLA Shannon Phillips
CTV
A Lethbridge police officer involved in the so-called 'MemeGate' scandal involving former Lethbridge New Democrat MLA Shannon Phillips has been reprimanded.
A Lethbridge police officer involved in the so-called "MemeGate" scandal involving former Lethbridge New Democrat MLA Shannon Phillips has been reprimanded.
The Lethbridge Police Service (LPS) said Monday an internal investigation into the officer's actions found they were "unauthorized."
The incident explored in the internal investigation was the accessing of Phillips' information via a police database back in 2017.
Phillips, who was then the environment minister, was discussing a proposed new park with a constituent in a coffee shop and was overheard by Lethbridge officer Keon Woronuk. Woronuk, a local all-terrain-vehicle user, was concerned that what he heard might have an impact on his hobby.
Woronuk subsequently posted photos of the meeting on a Facebook page under the name "Mike Corps," which included identifying the stakeholders and a long caption criticizing Phillips and the NDP government.
That prompted Phillips to complain to Calgary police, who found Woronuk had conducted an unauthorized database search. Calgary police then passed the investigation on to Medicine Hat police.
Woronuk was later convicted of five counts of violating the Police Act. They included wrongly subjecting Phillips to a police database search, singling her and others out for traffic enforcement, misleading supervisors and using his position as an officer for political reasons.
