Former Ontario police officer posed as McGill student to sextort minor

A cellphone is shown. (Terje Sollie/pexels.com)

A former police officer from Ontario has pleaded guilty to extortion and criminal harassment in relation to a sextortion case against a 17-year-old girl.

According to court documents, Alaa Almosawi, 34, first contacted the victim, who cannot be identified due to a publication ban, in November 2019 on Tinder.

The sentencing judgment notes that he called himself "Luca" and used the photo of a young man to describe himself as a 19-year-old McGill University student.

"The victim and 'Luca' exchanged text messages and then had occasional video chats on Skype," the judgment explains, adding "Luca" then started sending more intimate images of "himself" to the victim to entice her to do the same and give him her home address.

A few days later, the victim apparently received a message from someone purporting to be "Luca's" girlfriend.

At this moment, she cut off communication with the accused.

A few months later, after a rekindling of communication, Almosawi then revealed that his name was "Carter" and he actually lived in Toronto.

"He repeated that he was 19 years old," the judgment states. "He said that he was in love with her and missed seeing her naked."

That's when the threats of sharing her videos and photos began, according to the document.

"The accused again asked the victim to send photos and videos of her, threatening that otherwise, he would send the videos to her friends," the court document notes, adding that she periodically obliged to appease him.

By the end of January, the victim had gone to the police twice.

"Since she had provided the accused with her address, the victim was constantly fearful that he or someone he sent might appear at her doorstep," the judgment writes.

It adds: "Despite his threats, the accused had not actually saved them [the photos and videos]."

Following the accusations, Almosawi lost his job as a police officer.

He was sentenced to 15 months to be served in the community, followed by an 18-month probation and 240 hours of community service.

He is also prohibited from owning a weapon or using social media and must stay away from the victim.

"The accused takes full responsibility for his actions, does not minimize the gravity of his behaviour and feels remorse, which the Court considers sincere," the document adds.

The document concludes that Almosawi, who is in therapy, is "not a danger to society."