Toronto Police have charged a 15-year veteran of the force with insubordination and neglect of duty, reportedly in connection with the Bruce McArthur investigation.
Sergeant Paul Gauthier will be in front of a police tribunal at 9:00 a.m. on Tuesday morning to face the charges under the Police Services Act.
The Toronto Sun reports a man walked into a police station at some point in 2016, claiming to have been choked and strangled by McArthur in a nearby McDonalds parking lot during a sexual encounter.
But McArthur walked in shortly afterwards and reportedly claimed it was consentual.
No charges were laid, the victim left the station alone and McArthur was released.
According to The Sun, the complaint against Gauthier was made to the Professional Standards Unit by Insp. Hank Idsinga - the lead investigator in the McArthur investigation - who was tipped off by something he found in his files.
As per the timing of the charges, three days after McArthur pleaded guilty to eight counts of first-degree murder, NEWSTALK1010's crime specialist Mark Mendelson told The Rush Friday afternoon that we shouldn't be reading into it too much.
"But certainly they looked at it and they've determined that he didn't do the proper investigation," he said. "These are serious allegations obviously, and serious ramifications as well."
Meantime, Sgt. Gauthier's lawyer released the following statement to NEWSTALK1010's media partner CP24:
"The decision not to charge Bruce McArthur for the 2016 incident was made in conjunction with Detective Gauthier's supervisor and based on the information available at the time. Det. Gauthier conducted a proper investigation and fully documented the arrest of McArthur so that the information was available to all other investigators. McArthur's monstrous nature was difficult to uncover because he led a life of extreme deception, not because of anything to do with the 2016 arrest. Det. Gauthier has great sympathy for the victims and the community."
- with files from Jackie Rosen