{"id":588360,"date":"2026-04-07T16:33:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:33:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588360\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T16:33:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T16:33:17","slug":"calgary-area-man-to-hear-verdict-in-alleged-sex-worker-assaults","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/588360\/","title":{"rendered":"Calgary-area man to hear verdict in alleged sex worker assaults"},"content":{"rendered":"

A man charged with drugging, kidnapping, and sexually assaulting seven women at his acreage east of Calgary is expect to learn his verdict Tuesday. <\/p>\n

Richard Robert Mantha is in court in Calgary for the conclusion of a trial that has spanned over several years. <\/p>\n

The 62-year-old was first arrested in April 2023, accused of targeting women in Calgary\u2019s sex trade. Mantha was denied bail months later. <\/p>\n

His trial began in January 2024 but has faced several delays, mostly due to his health status. Mantha has had COVID-19 several times and suffered at least two strokes, the second of which impaired his ability to speak. <\/p>\n

He also initially opted for a French-language trial<\/a>, which is uncommon in Alberta. Mantha eventually decided to move forward with an English trial and a French translator on hand to assist him. <\/p>\n

The accused also fired his lawyers<\/a> in the middle of the trial, extending the timeline even further. <\/p>\n

Closing arguments<\/a> were supposed to happen in November but were delayed until April, once again due to Mantha\u2019s health issues. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s been alleged that at\u00a0least seven women were approached by a man on 19 Avenue SE in Forest Lawn between December 2021 and March 2023, before being drugged and taken to a rural property where they were physically and sexually assaulted<\/p>\n

Mantha is facing more than 20 charges, including kidnapping, sexual assault with a weapon, and administering a noxious substance. <\/p>\n

He has plead not guilty to all of them. <\/p>\n

-With files from The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man charged with drugging, kidnapping, and sexually assaulting seven women at his acreage east of Calgary is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":588361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":["post-588360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-calgary","tag-ca","tag-calgary","tag-canada"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588360","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=588360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}