Texts with 15-year-old girl at centre of early investigation into Surrey, B.C. police officer before his death
CBC
A B.C. police officer who died by suicide earlier this year had been under RCMP investigation for inappropriate texts to a teenager he met on the job, including messages asking the girl whether she gets "wild" when she's drunk and asking her to play truth or dare.
The details of the allegations against Cpl. Dilbag "Dylan" Hothi, 26, are laid out for the first time in redacted court documents obtained by CBC News after successfully challenging a court-ordered seal keeping the files from the public.
The officer was arrested and suspended after the investigation began last summer, but never criminally charged and the allegations were never tested in court. The criminal investigation was in its early stages at the time of his death in February.
After his death, the force confirmed Hothi was the same officer suspended from active duty over breach of trust allegations. Upon seeking more information about the case, CBC News learned all court files around his case had been sealed from public view.
A judge ordered redacted versions of the documents should be released after a hearing on Thursday, ruling that the family's privacy concerns were outweighed by the Canadian principle of court openness and transparency.
An investigator with Surrey RCMP laid out the key allegations against Hothi in an affadavit — or sworn statement — signed in November. The document said the case began last August after the teenage girl, then 15, showed Mounties her texts with Hothi.
The girl told investigators she met the police officer when he responded to a call to help her friend a few days earlier, documents said. She said she exchanged numbers with Hothi so she could keep him updated about her friend's whereabouts.
She said she told the officer she was 15 and he told her he was 26.
The girl told RCMP she initially texted Hothi at his work number but that he later asked her to message him on his personal phone instead.
She said Hothi asked her to meet on two separate occasions over the following days and at one point asked her whether she gets "wild" after drinking alcohol.
"Hothi told [the girl] that he gets 'wild and horny' when he drinks," the document said, citing the teenager's statement to RCMP.
Hothi and the girl eventually made plans to meet around 10 or 10:30 p.m. on Aug. 14. She said he suggested a game of "truth or dare" once they were together in person, but that her texts stopped delivering to Hothi's phone around 10 p.m.
The girl went to Surrey RCMP and showed them the texts that night, the documents said.
Mounties later seized both of Hothi's iPhones. An analyst who examined screenshots in September said the officer and the teenager exchanged 40 texts between Aug. 11 and 12, according to court documents. Another officer who reviewed the screenshots said Hothi sent the girl a photo of himself in sweatpants and a sleeveless shirt.
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