Man accused in hour-long string of downtown sex crimes cognitively impaired, has lengthy criminal record

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This article was published 07/11/2023 (1064 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A cognitively impaired man arrested and charged in a series of groping incidents on Portage Avenue last week has spent most of the last decade in custody or on probation, owing to a string of robberies, thefts and assault convictions.

Moses Bradley Swan, 28, is facing nearly a dozen charges relating to an hour-long crime spree in which he allegedly exposed himself and sexually assaulted multiple women in the downtown area on Halloween night. He was accused of a similar series of incidents in 2016, but those charges were later stayed, court records show.

The latest allegations add to a lengthy criminal history, which includes dozens of charges, convictions and probation breaches dating back to 2014.

Originally from Lake Manitoba First Nation, Swan suffered a childhood marked by abuse, foster care and a diagnosis with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder. He has spent time homeless and struggles with an addiction to methamphetamine, court heard during a May 24 sentencing hearing for robbery — the last incident on Swan’s record before his recent arrest.

“He has had a tragic life, there’s no question about that,” Crown prosecutor Vuk Mitrovic told provincial court Judge Brent Stewart at the time. “(However) there is no question that protection of the public and denunciation are important sentencing objectives here.”

Mitrovic and defence attorney Aaron Braun sought a one-year sentence for the Feb. 19 robbery, in which Swan — who was wandering downtown Winnipeg barefoot and high on methamphetamine — approached a male victim and demanded his shoes, threatening to kill him if he did not comply. He had been released from custody just days before, after receiving a six-month sentence for another robbery.

Stewart agreed the joint recommendation was just, crediting Swan for time served and setting an August release date.

Court records show no other charges until Nov. 2, when Swan was hit with seven counts of committing an indecent act, two counts of sexual assault, robbery and assault.

Winnipeg Police Service investigators believe Swan was involved in five incidents that occurred within a short distance of each other downtown between 4 and 5 p.m. Oct. 31.

In the first incident, a man entered a restaurant on the 200 block of Portage Avenue and made sexual comments to the women working there before exposing himself. The staff got outside safely and called for help.

A woman walking in the skywalk over the 300 block of Portage Avenue then reported that a man had approached her and exposed himself. She got away and found security guards.

Another woman reported that a man touched her sexually while she was leaving a business on the street level of the 300 block of Portage Avenue.

Further west, on the University of Winnipeg campus off the 500 block of Portage Avenue, two women told police that a man confronted them, exposing himself as he assaulted them on the ground, before he ran off.

Back on the 200 block of Portage Avenue, police said, a woman reported she had been sexually touched by a man while she was in a store.

Police released photos of a suspect, later determined to be Swan, and issued a public plea for information regarding the alleged assaults.

He was arrested two days later and remains in custody. The charges against him have not been proven in court.

tyler.searle@freepress.mb.ca