Mountie facing sex-crime charge to stand trial in 2026
Jeremy Bastarache remains suspended with pay
RCMP Cpl. Jeremy Bastarache, facing a charge alleging he made arrangements with a person for the purpose of facilitating a sexual offence toward someone he believed to be under 16 years of age, will stand trial in February 2026.
His case returned to Moncton provincial court on Thursday. He has pleaded not guilty to the charge. His trial was scheduled for Feb. 9 and 10, 2026.
RCMP have previously said that Bastarache has been suspended with pay.
The alleged offence happened in the Shediac area between April 24 and 29. The charge was laid June 10.
An affidavit in the court file says Bastarache, 36, has recently transferred from New Brunswick to work in Kinngait, a community of about 1,400 people in Nunavut.
The affidavit from RCMP Cpl. Jean-Sebastien Marcotte lays out what led to Bastarache's arrest on June 9 at the Ottawa airport.
It says the RCMP's Internet Child Exploitation unit received a referral from Australian federal police on May 27, 2024.
The referral said Australian police received a report from an online dating company that one of its users "attempted to procure an underage female for child abuse purposes."
Defence lawyer Nathan Gorham previously told reporters that Bastarache was looking forward to having his day in court and was anxious for the process to unfold.