{"id":430062,"date":"2026-01-24T10:48:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430062\/"},"modified":"2026-01-24T10:48:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T10:48:16","slug":"judge-sentences-former-winnipeg-officer-to-7-years-after-lawyers-agree-winnipeg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/430062\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge sentences former Winnipeg officer to 7 years after lawyers agree &#8211; Winnipeg"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A judge has sentenced a former\u00a0Winnipeg\u00a0police officer to seven years in prison for selling drugs to colleagues and distributing a photo of a partially clothed dead woman.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Court of King\u2019s Bench Justice Kenneth Champagne had initially told lawyers Friday he was \u201cinclined\u201d to go higher in sentencing Elston Bostock. But the judge decided on seven years, after the defence and Crown agreed to the term.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cToday is a dark day for public confidence in the administration of justice,\u201d Champagne said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor the last eight years of his employment, Bostock was involved in serious, sustained and intentional criminal activity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bostock, 49, pleaded guilty last week to charges including breach of trust, attempting to obstruct justice, drug trafficking and offering an indignity to human remains.<\/p>\n<p>The Crown had recommended the seven years, arguing Bostock undermined investigations, corrupted colleagues and caused reputational damage to the force that he was a part of for about 22 years.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Bostock\u2019s defence lawyer had initially asked for a sentence of just over two years.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1767930311_275_national.jpg\" alt=\"For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet breaking National news<\/p>\n<p>For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen.<\/p>\n<p>Court heard Bostock was responding to a call when he took a photo of the woman of Indigenous ancestry, who had died from an overdose, and sent it to two other officers with comments that sexualized and degraded her.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019d like to deeply apologize to the family and the victim for the hurt and pain I have caused with my most regrettable action,\u201d Bostock told his sentencing hearing.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\tMore on Crime<br \/>\n\t\t\tMore videos\n\t\t<\/p>\n<p>He said not a day has gone by in the months he\u2019s been in custody that he hasn\u2019t felt regret, \u201cnor will there be a day that I don\u2019t think of what I\u2019ve done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bostock was arrested in November 2024 along with two other officers. More charges were added last summer and a fourth officer was also arrested. Bostock was removed from the job late last year.<\/p>\n<p>Court heard the service\u2019s professional standards unit started a lengthy investigation after other officers came forward with concerns.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11634409\/autopsy-bc-canadian-dead-australia-beach\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769251696_965_Screenshot-2026-01-23-062047.png\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tB.C. teen found dead on Australian beach drowned, not killed by dingoes: autopsy\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11634513\/ryan-wedding-arrested\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1769251696_851_Ryan-Wedding-2025.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tRyan Wedding arrested: Olympian-turned-alleged drug lord captured\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The internal probe included audits, analysis of GPS data, surveillance by RCMP and the searching of Bostock\u2019s cellphone. There was also a staged event in which Bostock seized a backpack with narcotics, cash and cigarettes that belonged to an alleged criminal.<\/p>\n<p>The Crown said Bostock also used his knowledge as an officer to get traffic tickets dismissed and to look up police information for friends.<\/p>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>And he sold drugs to friends and colleagues as part of a \u201csocial enterprise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Crown prosecutor Ari Millo said he was unable to find any precedent in Canada where a police officer was charged with offering an indignity to human remains. He said Bostock appears to \u201chold the unenviable distinction of being the only police officer to ever defile his badge in that way.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bostock\u2019s lawyer, \u00a0Richard Wolson, told court \u201cthere\u2019s no question that the use of alcohol and drugs played an important role in Elston\u2019s downfall.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Winnipeg\u2019s police chief Gene Bowers says the actions of Bostock have no place within their ranks.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI understand this has shaken public confidence; the service doesn\u2019t take this knowledge lightly,\u201d said Bowers. \u201cThis case is a stain on our Service\u2019s reputation; one that will serve as a reminder of our responsibility to uphold our values of integrity and accountability.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 The Canadian Press\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A judge has sentenced a former\u00a0Winnipeg\u00a0police officer to seven years in prison for selling drugs to colleagues and&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":430063,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[49,48,2169,44,179230,179229],"class_list":["post-430062","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-crime","tag-news","tag-winnipeg-crime","tag-winnipeg-police"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430062","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=430062"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/430062\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/430063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=430062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=430062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=430062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}