A member of the Sault Ste. Marie Police Service is currently being held in custody after being criminally charged with harassment and failing to comply with a probation order last month.
Const. Jarrott Forsyth — who pleaded guilty to assaulting and threatening to kill a woman in January of last year — was arrested and taken into custody for allegedly breaking his probation order by repeatedly communicating with the same woman, either directly or indirectly, between Jan. 15 and Jan. 20.
The officer’s bail was denied in the Ontario Court of Justice during a scheduled court appearance on Feb. 6. A court order barring Forsyth from communicating with the woman was also issued during the same hearing, court documents show.
None of the allegations have been tested in court and Forsyth is considered innocent unless proven guilty.
In January 2024, Forsyth pleaded guilty to assaulting and threatening to kill the woman, admitting that he grabbed her neck during an argument on June 11, 2023. The death threats occurred between January 2020 and August 2023.
SooToday has chosen not to report on certain details of the case that could identify the victim.
Forsyth was handed a suspended sentence, which included 18 months probation and an order to provide a DNA sample. A proposed three-year weapons prohibition was not imposed in the final sentencing.
As previously reported by SooToday, the Sault Police constable told Ontario Court Justice Andrew Buttazzoni during the sentencing hearing that the DNA order was the “biggest violation,” and “absolutely ridiculous given the facts of the case.”
Forsyth eventually complied with the court order.
Court documents obtained by SooToday have also revealed that an application for a weapons ban was brought against Forsyth in July of last year.
The Sault Police officer made local headlines back in 2018, when he received a conditional discharge after being convicted of assaulting a colleague’s girlfriend. The assault occurred two years earlier during an off-duty confrontation.
Currently, Forsyth is facing three allegations of discreditable misconduct under the Police Services Act. His next appearance in the police disciplinary hearing is slated for Feb. 27 — the same day Forsyth is scheduled to appear in a Sault Ste. Marie courtroom for his most recent criminal charges.
- with files from Linda Richardson and Kenneth Armstrong