Curtis Sagmoen denies threatening sex workers in emotional RCMP interview after 2017 arrest
Sagmoen is accused of crimes against sex workers
Curtis Sagmoen, who is charged with multiple counts against sex trade workers, displayed a roller coaster of emotions during the intense first 24 hours of his detention while he was being questioned by the RCMP.
The video interviews were released to the public Wednesday after a B.C. Supreme Court judge lifted a publication ban.
Police investigators spoke to Sagmoen for several hours, with much of the conversation taking place in a small interview room at the RCMP detachment with Const. Richard McQueen.
McQueen repeatedly asked Sagmoen about his alleged history of contacting sex workers.
Initially, Sagmoen denies texting or phoning the women, but eventually admits he communicated with one he found on an adult internet web page. McQueen asks him about guns and if he threatened an escort with a gun.
Sagmoen repeatedly denies the claim at one point saying, "I never threatened anybody and I haven't fired a firearm."
Sex worker approached by masked gunman
The officer tells Sagmoen a woman he invited to the property was approached from behind by someone wearing a mask and carrying a gun, pointing it into the air. He says she ran away, but the tires of her truck were shot out.
He asks Sagmoen about firearms and whether he owns a .410 gauge shotgun, like the one he claims was used in the offence.
But Sagmoen tells the officer he doesn't have a .410 and didn't have access to one.
During the interviews, Sagmoen is sometimes sitting relaxed with his feet outstretched. At other times, he is slouched over or curled up in a chair with his head on a table.
He repeatedly tells McQueen he is tired and wants to go back to his cell.
McQueen presses on.
At one point, Sagmoen erupts in a fit of rage after McQueen tells him investigators will search his parent's house and home computer.
He jumps up and lifts his chair off the ground before McQueen and another officer calm him down.
"I don't even live in the house," he yells, adding, "what about my mom?"
An upset Sagmoen throws his chair but the RCMP officer calms him down
Sagmoen's outburst is captured in hours of video and audio interviews with police officers that were played during a four-day hearing into the admissibility of evidence in Vernon, B.C.
The hearing ended last Thursday, but the video was released to CBC News on Wednesday. A B.C. Supreme Court judge lifted a publication ban on the video and its contents after the ban was challenged by the CBC and Global News.
Sagmoen is accused of disguising his face with a mask and threatening a sex trade worker with a firearm in late August 2017, as well as discharging a firearm and possession of methamphetamine. He has pleaded not guilty and has been in custody since his arrest on Sept. 5, 2017.
In October 2017, police issued a warning to the general public and sex workers to take extra precautions for their safety around Salmon River Road in a rural area north of Vernon.
It's the same area where police uncovered the remains of missing 18-year-old Traci Genereaux while searching a 10-hectare farm in the North Okanagan, which a title search shows belongs to Wayne and Evelyn Sagmoen.
On Monday, Sagmoen's lawyer told court Curtis Sagmoen lives with his parents at the same address where the search occurred. Court heard earlier he lives in an RV trailer on the property.
Police have said Genereaux's death was suspicious, but they have not released a cause. No charges have been laid in the case, nor have police named a suspect.
RCMP have not made a link between the search and the public warning issued in October 2017.
Sagmoen pleaded guilty earlier this year to assaulting a sex trade worker in Maple Ridge.
While his name and face have been in the news in the past three years, the recordings are the first chance the public has had to see him during the 24-hour-period immediately following his 2017 arrest.
Supreme Court Justice Alison Beames has yet to announce her decision on whether the statements provided by Sagmoen during the interviews were given voluntarily and may be used against him at trial.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Sagmoen has elected to be tried by judge alone. A trial date has not been set, but more court hearings are expected to resume in December.
With files from Tom Popyk and the Canadian Press