Police went undercover to arrest sexual assault suspect, court told

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This article was published 26/05/2020 (1972 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Winnipeg police had to resort to undercover tactics to arrest a city firefighter and martial arts instructor accused of sexually assaulting two women, a judge heard Tuesday.

Manuel Ruiz, 54, is on trial charged with nine offences including sexual assault, uttering threats and forcible entry dating back more than 20 years.

Additional charges involving one woman who has since died and another alleged victim were previously stayed.

Court heard testimony Tuesday city police had received a criminal complaint against Ruiz in July 2017 and spent eight weeks trying to locate him for arrest, with no success.

“We checked his residence numerous times, sometimes several times a day” as well as his jiu-jitsu studio, “which was also negative,” testified Const. Dawn McCaskill, adding police were unable to confirm what fire station Ruiz worked from.

“As a result of that… an attempt to make contact under an undercover capacity was going to be done,” she said.

On Sept. 21, 2017, McCaskill, posing as a university student interested in self-defence classes, contacted Ruiz through an email address associated with his martial arts studio. The two arranged to meet at a Henderson Highway coffee shop the following day, at which time Ruiz was arrested.

When placed under arrest and asked if he understood, “he stated ‘Yes, I do, it’s not true,’” testified Const. Baillee Laurin. “He then laughed, stated he knew (one of the alleged victims) by saying ‘I remember her.’”

In connection to a second alleged victim, Ruiz said, “This is just not true. If only I had saved my old messages from (her) back in the day. I just don’t want work to find out first. I want to smooth this out. It’s not true.”

An interview with one alleged victim who has since died led to another alleged victim who police interviewed on Aug. 23, 2017, Laurin told court.

When police showed up at the woman’s door saying they wanted to speak about Ruiz, “she became upset, she cried, she looked visibly scared,” Laurin said.

The woman co-operated with the investigation and provided a video statement that same day, Laurin said.

The trial is set to resume Wednesday with testimony from one of the alleged victims.

The trial is set for seven days.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca