Most sextortion charges against 2 men in Moncton stayed

The Crown stayed almost all charges against two men in Moncton police alleged sexually exploited people online and threatened them into paying thousands of dollars, citing the risk of violating their right to a speedy trial.

Jean-Michel Gouin and Ketiboua Kesse faced a combined 21 charges. 

They included extortion, fraud, money laundering and possession of property obtained by crime. Gouin faced 19 charges on his own alleging he forced a dozen people to pay them amounts that at times exceeded $5,000 in a series of incidents between May 1, 2022, and April 10, 2023. 

Charges were laid in February this year and their trial was scheduled to begin in September next year, more than 19 months after charges were laid.

The case was back in Moncton provincial court Tuesday. 

Crown prosecutor Guillaume Rigucci said he invited the judge to stay the charges based on the risk of violating their Charter right to be tried within a reasonable time. 

Most charges stayed

A 2016 Supreme Court of Canada case says trials in provincial court should be completed within 18 months of charges being laid. 

Moncton provincial court staff and Christian Libotte, a defence lawyer who represented Gouin, said almost all of the charges the two men faced were stayed Tuesday.

"I suppose Jean-Michel Gouin is very satisfied," Christian Libotte told Radio-Canada on Friday.

Staying charges halts the prosecution, though the charges could be revived within a year.

Gouin still faces one charge alleging he failed to comply with a condition and is expected to return to court in September on that charge. 

Codiac Regional RCMP Sgt. Sylvette Hebert directed a request for comment about the development to the Public Prosecution Services.

RCMP arrested Gouin and Kesse in the Moncton area on March 2, 2023, after receiving a tip from a police force in Quebec. The charges against them were announced in November last year. 

The Roussillon Intermunicipal Board of Police told CBC News in 2023 that the department received a sextortion complaint from a man in his 20s. The man told police he had to send $1,000 by bank transfer to someone so that his intimate images would not be published.

Codiac Regional RCMP Supt. Benoit Jolette told Moncton council in March 2023 that the Mounties had arrested people allegedly trying to set up a "network" aimed at sexually extorting youth in New Brunswick.