Toronto police confirm investigation into Hedley singer Jacob Hoggard

Toronto police confirmed Friday evening that the sex crimes unit has opened an investigation into Hedley frontman Jacob Hoggard.

The police service would only confirm that the investigation is ongoing and that no charges have been laid. Police did not release any further details.

CBC News has no information regarding who filed the complaint that led to the ongoing police investigation. 

An Ottawa woman accused the singer of sexually assaulting her at a downtown Toronto hotel in November 2016. In an interview with CBC News last month, the woman said she went public with the allegation after watching dozens of mainly anonymous women speak out on social media about alleged negative experiences with the B.C. band.

The Ottawa woman, who CBC agreed not to name to protect her privacy, did not file a police complaint at the time. 

Hoggard has denied her allegations and said the pair had consensual sex.

In the wake of the Ottawa woman's account, a Toronto woman also came forward alleging Hoggard ignored her ground rules for sexual activity and tried to force her to do things without her consent during an encounter at another Toronto hotel during Canadian Music Week in March 2013.

Hoggard called the accusation "startling and categorically untrue" in a statement on Twitter and said the sex between the two was "entirely consensual."

Open investigation

The Ottawa woman told CBC on Friday she had contacted local police earlier in the day about her experience with Hoggard. 

The officer she spoke to said there was already an open investigation into the singer, she said. She has not yet filed a formal complaint and plans to follow up with police in Toronto. 

She told CBC she hopes, now that there is an investigation, that the public will take the allegations more seriously.

"It feels like finally something is being done so I feel a little bit of a sense of relief," she said. "My number one hope would obviously be that he be held accountable in a court of law."

The CBC has reached out to Hoggard's lawyer for comment, but has yet to hear back.

The Hedley lead singer announced at the end of last month that he was stepping away indefinitely from his music career after finishing the band's current Canada-wide tour.

In the statement announcing his departure, Hoggard admitted to objectifying women and said the way he has treated them has been "reckless and dismissive of their feelings."

But he began the statement by saying, "I need to be completely clear: I have never engaged in non-consensual sexual behaviour in my life. Ever."