Criminal harassment charge withdrawn against local web broadcaster

Posted on July 13, 2023 by Ryan Dahlman

Southern Alberta Newspaper

A charge of criminal harassment has been withdrawn against a Medicine Hat webcaster who claimed he visited the home of a city firefighter to build a case for private prosecution in an alleged case of assault.

Tom Fougere, who operates “Community TV” on an internet site, was charged March 2, 2022 by Redcliff RCMP after receiving a complaint two weeks earlier from a Dunmore resident.

With discussions on a potential resolution between defence attorney Lyndon Heidinger and prosecutors continuing earlier this year, a trial date was fixed for Monday, June 26.

The matter was apparently resolved in late May with the charge dropped, according to court documents.

“The decision to withdraw this charge was based on the assessment that there was no reasonable likelihood of conviction with respect to the charge of criminal harassment,” reads a statement from the Alberta Crown Prosecutors Service to the News on Wednesday.

Asked for comment on the case, Fougere criticized the News’s coverage of the issue to date.

The case stems from an interaction between the two men in late 2021, when Fougere says a city firefighter questioned him at the scene of a fire and allegedly touched his camera.

Fougere claimed that constituted assault in a police report filed by him at the time. No charges were laid in relation to that inciden.