BREAKING: NDP staffer charged with soliciting sex quietly settled out of court
According to the documents, on December 10, 2018, Benjamin Alldritt, a communications officer with the NDP caucus "communicated with the purpose of obtaining the sexual services of a person, near or in Edmonton, Alberta, contrary to section 286.1(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada."
Rebel News has obtained access to court documents which show an Alberta NDP staffer was charged with soliciting for sex.
According to the documents, on December 10, 2018, Benjamin Alldritt, a communications officer with the NDP caucus "obtained for consideration or communicated with the purpose of obtaining for consideration, the sexual services of a person, near or in Edmonton, Alberta, contrary to section 286.1(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada."
The charge was resolved via "alternative measures" in March 2019.
At the time of the alleged incident, Alldritt worked as Associate Chief of Staff to then-Health Minister Sarah Hoffman. His tenure with the Alberta NDP also included stints as Special Advisor to then-Premier Rachel Notley and then-Infrastructure Minister Sandra Jansen.
Included in the document package, an Edmonton Peace Officer Carmen Gamelin testified that she received word on “reasonable grounds” from an informant, concerning the alleged incident.
The charge took place just four months before the April 2019 provincial election which sent UCP leader Jason Kenney to the premier's office and would have rocked the NDP campaign had the public become aware of the sex scandal.
Alldritt, who represented himself, appeared before the Edmonton Provincial Criminal Court on January 23, 2019. According to the accused’s LinkedIn profile, his tenure with the NDP ended sometime that month.
Rebel reached out to the Alberta NDP for comment on his dismissal and clarification on when they became aware of the charge but did not hear back at the time of publication. A similar request for comment did not receive a response from Alldritt either.
Also attached to the court documents is a Scheduling Notice, with a trial date for May 31, 2019, at courtroom 356. However, Crown prosecutor Carrie-Anne Downey filed a request to withdraw the charge on March 4 via “Alternative Measures.”
According to the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), not every person alleged to have committed an offence needs to be prosecuted. However, circumstances that can preclude alternative measures include a sexual offence.
Alternative measures, introduced in the Criminal Code in 1996, enable adults and organizations to take responsibility for offences in certain circumstances without going through judicial proceedings.
“In some cases, because of the nature and circumstances of the offence and the offender, the public interest may be better served by a resolution outside of the traditional criminal process,” said the PPSC backgrounder.
They can include community service, a charitable donation, anger management counselling, addiction or mental health counselling, a letter of apology, or a combination of these, depending on the jurisdiction of the offence.
It is unclear which of the aforementioned measures applied to the accused, resulting in the Crown withdrawing the charge.
Alldritt has since worked “freelance” in “communications and organization,” according to his LinkedIn profile. But several media reports quoted him as an NDP caucus spokesperson in April 2021, and as Director of Communications the following year.
An indictable offence would have carried imprisonment for a term not exceeding more than five years, or a fine of up to $2,000 for the first offence and $4,000 for each subsequent offence.
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