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No jail time for B.C. man found guilty of running over sex worker with ATV

Curtis Sagmoen slapped with probation and long list of conditions Friday in Vernon courthouse
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Curtis Sagmoen takes a smoke break during the start of trial Monday, Feb. 10. (Jennifer Smith - Morning Star)

A North Okanagan man found guilty of assaulting an escort three years ago has been sentenced to three years probation with a number of conditions in place.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gordon Weatherill sentenced Curtis Sagmoen, 39, to five months plus a day in jail time at the Vernon courthouse Friday, June 19, in addition to the 36 months of probation.

However, because Sagmoen is credited with having served over two years in custody following separate charges, he won’t be going to jail.

Sagmoen was found guilty of assault causing bodily harm at a trial that happened in February, which was tied to an August 2017 incident in which Sagmoen intentionally ran over a sex trade worker with an ATV.

It was his second conviction in as many months as he was also found guilty in December 2019 of threatening a different sex trade worker with a firearm. Both offences took place at his place of residence on Salmon River Road.

The probation conditions ordered by Justice Weatherill bans on drug and alcohol use, accessing websites advertising escort or dating services, having more than one cell phone number, leaving B.C. without permission from his bail supervisor.

Sagmoen also faces a 10-year weapons prohibition and a mandatory DNA order, and must also reside at his family property on Salmon River Road.

Upon his sentence hearing at 10 a.m. Friday, protesters gathered at the court house wearing red and laying out signs saying “Justice now,” and “Gone but not forgotten.”

In the fall of 2017, Sagmoen’s family property became the subject of an extensive search and the remains of 18-year-old Traci Genereaux were uncovered. No charges have been laid in connection with her death, but demonstrators have been present at nearly all of Sagmoen’s court dates demanding justice in her honour.

Protests, like the one seen Friday morning, have been a regular occurrence at Sagmoen’s trial dates.

The offence in August 2017 was an August 2017 incident, when Sagmoen ran over a sex trade worker with an ATV on his Salmon River Road property, south of Salmon Arm.

The woman, whose name is protected by a publication ban, testified she arrived at the rural property for a three- to four-hour date. She texted Sagmoen to let her through the gate. After receiving no answer, she soon saw him driving on an ATV, at which point he asked her to come with him to a creek on the property.

Down at the creek, Sagmoen asked her for her services, but she refused as she had not yet been paid.

He asked her to follow him up a dirt road to his house, but her car got stuck. She caught a ride with him on the ATV.

At one point they stopped and, feeling uneasy about the situation, she asked to be brought back to her car.

She told the court Sagmoen appeared to be pretending the ATV would not start. She told him she would walk back down the hill. That’s when he plowed into her with the vehicle.

The courts heard she was hit so hard by the all terrain vehicle, she flipped over him and her shoes flew off. She said she suffered a concussion, fractured tailbone and road rash, among other injuries.

Sagmoen already served two years and two months in prison when he awaited his trial for the case that involved threatening a woman with a shotgun. Sagmoen was released on time served at the conclusion of that trial.

In an unrelated case, stemming from a 2013 incident in Maple Ridge, Sagmoen served 30 days in jail and two years’ probation in February 2019 after pleading guilty to assault.

Sagmoen was to be sentenced in April but the hearing was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the provincially ordered shutdowns associated with it.

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