Ex-cadet leader gets 13 years for child luring

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This article was published 01/11/2022 (1365 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A former officer with the Canadian Cadet program has been sentenced to 13 years in prison after admitting to grooming and sexually exploiting three teenage girls under his wing.

Robert Gale, 30, pleaded guilty to two counts of child luring, two counts of sexual exploitation and one count of criminal harassment for offences committed when the victims were between 15 and 17 years of age.

“There is no question the victims will continue to suffer long-term emotional and psychological harm well into their adult lives, and maybe forever,” provincial court Judge Cindy Sholdice said at the conclusion of a day-long sentencing hearing on Friday.

“While I can accept he didn’t join the cadets with the hope of offending against children, he was able to use his position to groom and gain the victims’ trust and compliance. He took advantage of the victims’ vulnerabilities, exploiting them for his own personal gain, knowing what he was doing was wrong and instructing them not to tell anyone.”

Court was told Gale was a second lieutenant with the Regional Support Cadet Unit in Winnipeg in October 2017 when he expressed a romantic interest in a 16-year-old senior cadet he had known for two years and with whom he had been communicating regularly over Snapchat and Facebook Messenger.

“In the weeks that followed, (Gale’s messages) became very sexual,” Crown attorney Katie Dojack told court.

The two began a sexual relationship with “regular exploitative sex” occurring at Gale’s home, in his truck and at the Isabel Street facility used by the cadets, Dojack said.

In December 2017, when the girl became pregnant with Gale’s child, he pushed her to have an abortion.

Reading from her victim impact statement, the woman, who is 21, told court Gale refused to accompany her to the procedure and told her not to tell medical staff he was the father.

After the abortion, Gale drove the girl to a cadet function and dropped her off a block away “because it would be too suspicious” she said. “I was bleeding like I had been shot.”

In the months that followed, Gale pressured the girl to share intimate pictures with him when they couldn’t have sex, telling her doing so would prevent him from turning to pornography.

The sexual relationship ended after the girl turned 18. A year later, after reading a story about grooming, she confided in a cadet coach and police were contacted. The woman declined to provide a police statement at that time, but the cadets launched their own investigation and suspended Gale from any activities that involved direct contact with youth cadets.

In May 2021, the woman provided a police statement that triggered an investigation in which two more victims were discovered.

“It took me several months to understand I was groomed by a grown man while I was a child,” the woman told court.

“Robert, you stole almost two years of my life — something I can never take back, and for that I can never forgive you.”

Police executed a search warrant at Gale’s home in June 2021 and seized his cellphone and other electronic devices, analysis of which revealed communication with another teen victim. Court heard Gale met the 16-year-old girl at a cadet function out of province and began communicating with her online after she posted messages on Facebook suggesting she was having mental health struggles.

“He became her confidante,” Dojack said.

The two had exchanged sexually intimate images over Facebook and Snapchat when Gale convinced the now 17-year-old girl to visit him in Winnipeg. Gale put the girl up in a hotel and pressed her to have sex with him, which she did, Dojack said.

When the teen returned home she realized how inappropriate this contact was and terminated the relationship, Dojack said.

Court heard Gale sent sexually charged text messages to a third teen victim while he was suspended and under investigation in 2020.

Gale has no prior criminal record, a fact that should hold no sway before the court, Dojack argued.

“Had he not been considered a person of good character, he would not be in the position to exploit these young persons as he did,” she said.

Defence lawyer Chad Schaan argued that Gale had a dysfunctional and abusive upbringing that made him a shy, awkward adult with low self-esteem.

“Mr. Gale didn’t set out to get involved in those relationships for some nefarious purpose… it wasn’t part of some master plan to join cadets and take advantage of girls that were vulnerable,” Schaan said. “At the time this was all happening, I’m not sure Mr. Gale appreciated the significance of his actions.”

Gale found a sense of belonging in the cadets, Schaan said.

“That, ironically, gave him an opportunity to offend.”

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca