Former CTV broadcaster Steve Vogelsang accused of robbing 2 Alberta banks

Former Winnipeg broadcast personality and Red River College journalism instructor Steve Vogelsang has been charged with two counts of robbery involving two separate banks in Alberta.

The 53-year-old was the news director and longtime sports anchor at CKY, now known as CTV Winnipeg, beginning in the early 1990s. He became a journalism instructor at Red River College in 2002 and resigned in 2011.

In March, a former student he had dated was granted a protection order against him.

Police in Medicine Hat say a man walked into a Royal Bank in the southeastern Alberta city on Oct. 19 and a Bank of Montreal the next day without a disguise, demanded money and left with an undisclosed amount of cash.

Police arrested Vogelsang on Saturday at a hotel in the same area as the banks, just after 3 a.m. CT.

Vogelsang and his wife moved from Winnipeg to Nelson, B.C., after he left his post at Red River College.

After spending 24 years together, Vogelsang and his wife separated in 2015 and he moved back to Winnipeg. She filed for divorce last summer.

Financially squeezed

According to court documents, Vogelsang and his wife had owned three properties in Nelson and sold them for a total loss of $85,000.

They also owned a home in Winnipeg, which Vogelsang was supposed to take over fully last September after removing his ex-wife's name from the paperwork.

The documents say that didn't happen. Instead, she alleges he forged her signature and renewed the mortgage on the home in both their names.

Vogelsang wasn't able to make the mortgage payments and put the house up for sale, but it went into foreclosure in April.

According to an email exchange in September, entered as evidence, while the couple argued over selling a property, Vogelsang described his financial situation and said he was, at times, sleeping in his vehicle. 

"[Because] I have nowhere to stay, I'll stay in my truck tues & weds night," he wrote. "I have been staying in my truck regularly," he added.  

Earlier this year, he said he planned to move to Vancouver Island in August, and was working on developing a career as a keynote speaker on millennials.

Accused of harassing former student

A former student Vogelsang had been dating off and on since 2004 got a protection order against him in March.

She said she broke up with him last August and alleges in court documents that he did not stop contacting her through text, emails and voicemails, despite Winnipeg police asking him on three occasions to leave her alone.

"He's gone to great lengths to try to get a hold of me since November and I've ... changed my cellphone number. I've cancelled my personal email. I've blocked him through work. I've tried to block him through email and phone. Our security desk and our HR manager has his picture and his details and he's not allowed in the building," she said in court documents.

"I wanted this to end in August. I've now had the police tell him I don't want any contact and he is still wanting to be involved, wanting to be involved in my life, wanting to get some sort of effect from me. And so I do fear for my own safety."

Vogelsang is fighting those allegations next month. He told the court the woman "has repeatedly misled police in an attempt to discredit me."

"I, Stephen Lane Vogelsang, have never committed a violent act," he is quoted in the documents as saying.

He says that the woman "has actively interfered in my life."

"I trade on my reputation for my employment. I have spent over 20 years in Winnipeg developing a flawless and well-respected reputation.

Vogelsang remains in custody in Alberta to face two robbery charges and is expected in court tomorrow.

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