Investigation of B.C. escort accused of drugging, stealing from clients was 'sloppy' and 'reckless': judge

Jessica Kane is shown in this photo obtained by CTV News.

The investigation into allegations a B.C. woman drugged and stole from men who hired her as an escort – leaving one victim dead – was marked by “professional negligence, recklessness, and operational failures,” according to recently published court documents.

Judge Mark Jette made his comments on the conduct of police when sentencing Jessica Kane, who pleaded guilty to six counts of theft over $5,000 in April of this year. Kane was originally charged with 21 crimes.

The additional 15 charges – one count of manslaughter, seven counts of administering a drug to commit an indictable offence, four counts of fraud, two counts of extortion and one additional count of theft over $5,000 – were stayed after the sentencing.

“The Crown’s theory was that Ms. Kane, while working as an escort, drugged a series of clients, then stole their personal property and/or monies from bank and credit card accounts,” the Aug. 30 decision said.

In an agreed upon statement of facts, Kane admitted to thefts totalling a combined $92,650, including one instance where she took $50,000 in cash from one man’s closet. All six victims were men who had contacted Kane through the website LeoList with the intention of paying her and an unnamed second woman for sexual services.

“Ms. Kane admits that five of the named victims were highly intoxicated, and a sixth was in medical distress when she committed the theft offences,” the decision said, adding that Kane did not admit to drugging the men and that the agreed upon statement of facts was “silent” on the question of whether she provided the men with sexual services.

The guilty pleas came after a series of pre-trial hearings in which Jette identified 20 separate breaches of Kane’s Charter rights during the course of an 18-month investigation.

The investigation

In July of 2021, a constable with the Surrey RCMP took a statement from a man who said “he contacted females for sexual services on LeoList, two arrived at his house, and he was drugged and robbed,” according to the decision.

That man later decided he did not want to pursue the complaint further and the file was closed.

Const. Sarah Hunter, who was working with the detachment’s Community Response Unit, was looking through the police database for “possible investigative projects” and identified the July 2021 complaint as one of three files with “common features,” the court heard.

“The Charter breaches and other alleged police misconduct began soon after Const. Hunter first took an interest,” the decision said.

Once Kane was identified as a suspect, Hunter contacted Yellow Cab, Holt Renfrew, LeoList, and a building manager at the condo where Kane was believed to live.

“(Hunter) obtained records and other information from all of those sources without prior judicial authorization,” the decision said, identifying this as a breach of Kane’s right to be free from unreasonable search and seizure, and noting that this initial breach was one of a series of mistakes Hunter made that had a domino effect.

The investigation was taken over by the Surrey RCMP’s Major Crimes Unit, where the judge said “sloppy police work and a lack of attention to detail led to a series of additional breaches.”

Those included a failure to tell Kane she was under arrest for manslaughter, a failure to uphold her right to consult with counsel, and unlawful seizure of evidence.

“Lack of care and recklessness was a common feature of their dealings with Ms. Kane,” the judge said, describing the conduct of the Major Crimes Unit.

Kane’s rights were also found to have been breached in a “troubling” manner by a member of the Vancouver Police Department, the decision said.

Sgt. Shannon, whose first name is not included in the decision, was working on a case in which Kane reported being the victim of a break-in and theft at her home.

In the course of the investigation, he obtained “private information” from Kane and CCTV footage from her building, which he then passed on to Hunter, “for a dual purpose and without Kane’s consent,” the decision said, finding this was a violation of her right to life, liberty and security of the person.

CTV News contacted the RCMP and the VPD to ask whether either of the officers named faced professional discipline.

The B.C. RCMP, in a statement, said the force acknowledges the court’s findings, and is reviewing them.

“This was an extremely complicated file and I strongly support the investigator’s efforts to navigate through a complex legal environment while balancing the interests of the victims. Our investigator has a strong track record of professionalism and success in advancing charges and working with the B.C. Prosecution Service,” Asst. Comm Brian Edwards wrote, in an email.

The Vancouver Police Department did not reply.

The sentence

At the time of sentencing, Kane had been in jail for 467 days – since an arrest for breaching the conditions of her bail. She was credited with 686 days of time served, which works out to just under 23 months.

“Ms. Kane has a time served credit which exceeds the jail sentence which would normally be warranted for these offences,” Jette noted, before imposing a suspended sentence with an additional two years of probation and rejecting her lawyer’s bid for a conditional discharge.

The breaches of Kane’s Charter rights were considered one of the mitigating factors in the case.

“There are a number of ways that courts can communicate to the public at large that state conduct falling below constitutional standards will have consequences when charges are brought before the courts for decision. Mitigation of sentence is one,” the decision said.

The judgment also said that the guilty pleas were entered when Kane had “other viable litigation options available,” noting an application to stay the proceedings entirely on the ground of abuse of process was filed and “not without merit.”

Kane’s lack of a criminal record was also mitigating, as was the 32-year-old’s “troubled” background.

The court heard that Kane’s parents both had substance use issues, that her father was mostly absent but physically abusive to Kane’s mother when he was present. Kane was “in and out of foster homes” between the ages of six and 10, then dropped out of school at 16 and entered the sex trade as a minor.

“Sex work can be a dangerous undertaking, and Ms. Kane reports numerous instances where she was physically attacked and traumatized by clients,” the decision said.

The decision also said Kane has been subject to “numerous threats and assaults” while incarcerated, which was treated as mitigating as well.

The aggravating factors in the case were that Kane committed multiple offences with multiple victims over a prolonged period of time. Jette also said no evidence was submitted to demonstrate that Kane stole out of necessity, and that the motive was greed.

The decision also said Kane violated the trust of her victims in their own home and preyed on them when they were intoxicated and vulnerable.

Four of the victims filed impact statements with the court, and Jette said they established the affect of Kane’s actions as an additional aggravating factor – with one caveat.

“This factor is tempered somewhat where the victims have complained that they were forced to disclose to people in their lives that they had engaged the services of an escort, and that this disclosure had certain negative consequences,” Jette write.

“In my view, ‘being found out’ is a known risk when engaging in conduct like this. It follows that some of the damage falls into the ‘self-inflicted wound’ category.”

The terms of Kane’s probation require her to refrain from any communication with her victims and forbid her from having any identification documents, including credit and debit cards, or any account information other than her own. Kane was also ordered to pay nearly $90,000 in restitution to five victims.