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RCMP investigating death of jailed ex-police officer

By: Bruce Owen

Posted: 02/19/2013 5:55 PM | Last Modified: 02/19/2013 7:41 PM | Updates

RCMP are investigating the death of former city police officer Richard Dow early Tuesday at Headingley Correctional Institution.

Dow, who was serving a 16-month jail term for sexual assault, was found dead in his cell Tuesday morning. An autopsy is scheduled today to determine the cause of his death.

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"It’s very early for us," RCMP spokeswoman Sgt. Line Karpish said Tuesday. "Like any death, we treat it as suspicious until we know otherwise."

Karpish said officers from the Headingley detachment were called to the provincial jail at about 10:30 a.m. in connection to the death of a male inmate. Winnipeg police are not involved in the investigation.

Dow, 58, was sentenced in September to 16 months in jail after being convicted of sexually assaulting 11 young women whom he had persuaded to model for his off-duty photography business.

Dow was a Winnipeg police officer for 19 years. He was placed on administrative leave from the police service following his arrest in 2006. He later retired.

The crimes he was convicted of took place between 2001 and 2005 and involved aspiring models in their late teens and early 20s. They had agreed to pose for photos but were then groped and fondled during the photo shoots.

bruce.owen@freeperss.mb.ca