Trial delayed for Innisfil Pride founder facing prostitution-related sex offences

Trial has been postponed for former election candidate Jake Tucker, who faces prostitution-related sex offences.

The founder of Innisfil Pride, who also ran as an independent candidate in the 2022 provincial election, will have another year to prepare a defence in court.

Jake Tucker, 38, was arrested and charged by police in Barrie in early 2022. Tucker is accused of prostitution-related sex offences and assault alleged to have taken place between 2017 and 2021.

Tucker, who was represented by two different lawyers since the charges were laid, had another defence counsel appear in court Tuesday for a judicial pre-trial with the Crown and Justice Michelle Fuerst.

New court dates were put on the record for April 2026, while two weeks of trial dates previously scheduled for late March and early April of this year were vacated.

Allegations included procuring a person for the purpose of providing sexual services along with trafficking of an individual, profiting from those sexual services and assault.

The identity of the complainant is protected under a publication ban.

According to court documents, Tucker is accused of exploiting and exercising control, direction or influence over the movement of the complainant while financially benefitting from the alleged trafficking.

Tucker’s first lawyer, friend Matthew Giesinger, told CTV News in July 2022, that Tucker denied any wrongdoing and the charges were completely false.

The matter is scheduled to return to a virtual courtroom in December. The allegations against the accused have not been tested in court.