Therapist who triggered investigation into a fake psychologist blames bad memory
Dr. Ronald Frey has assessed hundreds of police officers across Canada
The already unusual case of an alleged fake psychologist working with the Ottawa Police Service has taken another surprising turn — one that's adding to the distress of the police officer at its heart.
The Crown prosecutor has withdrawn a charge of public mischief against Dr. Ronald Frey, after the certified psychologist made an about-face admission.
In June 2021, Frey complained to Ottawa Police Service (OPS) that he believed someone was impersonating him. The complaint followed a meeting with former OPS Const. Kimberly Cadarette who showed him a 2007 mental fitness report about her, which bore both Frey's electronic signature and was printed on his company letterhead.
CBC News arranged the meeting as it investigated Cadarette's allegations that her OPS mandated meetings with a psychologist had actually been with someone impersonating a clinician. Cadarette was required to undergo a mental fitness asessment in 2007, something that happened after she alleges she made complaints to police brass that she had been the target of repeated sexual harassment.
In a meeting captured on camera last June, both Frey and Cadarette denied ever seeing each other face-to-face before that moment.
Following the CBC News story, OPS asked York Regional Police to investigate Frey's complaint of an imposter. In November, police arrested and charged Frey for making a spurious complaint.
At the time, Frey's lawyer told CBC News that the psychologist had no idea what the charge could be about and would vigorously defend it.
A flip-flop in court
But in a court hearing on April 22, Frey changed his story. The psychologist admitted that he did, in fact, assess Cadarette after he was shown new evidence, including appointment records kept by the OPS Health and Safety unit.
"When I spoke to CBC about their story in June 2021, given the passage of time, I did not have any recollection or records of meeting or conducting an assessment on Kim Cadarette in 2007," said Frey, reading aloud from a prepared statement in court. "After reviewing the disclosure and the investigative material collected by the York Regional Police in this matter — recently provided to me — I acknowledge that I did conduct an assessment of Kim Cadarette."
Frey told the judge he saw Cadarette to determine her fitness to return to duty with the OPS between September and October 2007.
The Crown prosecutor did not provide a specific reason for dropping the criminal charge and no evidence was presented in court beyond Frey's statement.
"After completing that review and giving the matter very careful consideration, the Crown determined that a withdrawal of the charges was appropriate," a spokesperson for the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General said in an email.
Frey did not respond to multiple interview requests following the April 22 hearing. Despite what happened in court, Cadarette said she is certain the man who assessed her 15 years ago was not Frey — nor was he a real therapist.
Frey's admission has flummoxed her, she said.
"[He] went on national TV, you went thoroughly through that [assessment] report. And in his own words, he said that that report was unethical," Cadarette said. "It just doesn't make sense."
Experience 'ruined' police career
The mental fitness report from 2007 concluded that Cadarette had "partial paranoia" but could resume work under careful supervision. The officer, however, said she believes that assessment is fraudulent and that its contents were leaked.
The information within the report tainted her reputation, she said, even after she transferred from OPS to Peel Regional Police, where she currently works.
"This has ruined my career," she told CBC News.
Cadarette said that in 2007 she had her police-issued firearm taken away and was ordered to see a psychologist shortly after complaining to then-police chief Vern White about experiencing sexual harassment and bullying within her platoon. She said she saw a therapist for five one-hour sessions in a windowless medical examination room on the University of Ottawa campus.
WATCH | Cadarette reacts to news of Frey's court hearing:
In earlier interviews, she said she and the therapist sat on folding chairs during the sessions and she noted the psychologist drove a blue minivan. Frey told CBC News that he has never owned a minivan and that his office had plush chairs, with a window overlooking the street.
Frey has looked at Cadarette's mental health assessment several times in the past two years, including a review with Cadarette and her lawyer, then with CBC.
That report described how the therapist would show up for surprise visits at Cadarette's workplace or make last-minute appointment cancellations in an attempt to test the patient's paranoia. In a televised interview, Frey vehemently denied using the techniques that were outlined in the document
"That would be, first of all, atypical and highly unethical and not something that I can imagine any psychologist engaging in," Frey said last summer. "I want to be clear that I didn't assess her."
Following Frey's arrest, the College of Psychologists of Ontario put restrictions on his practice at the end of December. He could not provide one-on-one therapy or assessments unless he was supervised by another therapist. The supervisor also had to review Frey's treatment plans for patients.
Now that the criminal charge has been withdrawn, the college says it will lift those restrictions.
Experience and scrutiny
Frey began working with OPS more frequently on the recommendation of White, the former Ottawa police chief.
White, who is now a senator, became familiar with Frey's work while working for the RCMP in Nunavut. The psychologist was often in the North helping officers cope with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Frey has been a practising psychologist since 2000. According to his resume, he has worked with dozens of public- and private-sector clients, and he has assessed hundreds of patients from police services across the country. He has also assessed workers at Public Safety Canada, the Canada Border Services Agency and the Department of National Defence.
WATCH | Psychologist says the case raises questions:
Frey's past experience may warrant further scrutiny, says Dr. Mary Ann Campbell, the director of the Centre for Criminal Justice Studies at the University of New Brunswick, She is also a practising psychologist who has worked with law enforcement agencies.
"It does make us wonder about, well, are there other cases where some apparent wrongdoing or miscalculation of how one should be doing their work has occurred?"
Campbell said memory is fallible and that therapists will not necessarily remember all their patients unless there are circumstances that stand out. But she said fit-for-duty assessments need to be done with the utmost care, because they can impact an officer's job trajectory.
While Dr. Frey may see lots of patients, Kimberly does not see lots of doctors — and she's steadfast that he was not the one who treated her.- Peter Brauti, lawyer for Kimberly Cadarette
"In these types of settings where we determine whether or not you're fit to be on the job, whether you should have your weapon, or the parameters of how you should be doing your work — it behooves us as a profession to be very credible, trustworthy, knowledgeable in the practices of psychology that relate to this work so that we are giving good psychological care and not putting anyone in harm's way."
Seeking accountability
Cadarette's legal team said the court process has left them with more questions.
"While Dr. Frey may see lots of patients, Kimberly does not see lots of doctors — and she's steadfast that he was not the one who treated her," said Peter Brauti, Cadarette's lawyer.
"It's devastating [to Cadarette] — it's like kicking somebody when they're down, repeatedly."
Brauti said he hasn't seen the Crown's disclosure, but he also finds Frey's flip-flop difficult to accept.
"He agreed to go on CBC with you to meet her in person for the first time. I mean, he had to know how serious this was and how sure he had to be in his answers to the media."
Brauti calls the ordeal "cruel punishment" and said his client is considering launching a civil suit against Frey and lodging a complaint with the College of Psychologists of Ontario.