A photo of a counselling session from Poundmaker's website.
Sex-related charges have been dropped against a Cree man who worked as a spiritual advisor at an Alberta healing lodge.
Mounties in Morinville, Alta., charged Gerald Edward Twoteeth with two counts of indecent assault and one count of sexual assault in relation to his work at Poundmaker’s Lodge Treatment Centre on Aug. 1, 2021.
Twoteeth, who pleaded not guilty, lost his job at the treatment centre in St. Albert, Alta., as a result.
APTN News learned recently the charges were stayed on April 21, 2022. A stay means charges can be re-laid within a 12-month period if new evidence comes to light but that didn’t happen here.
The stay was issued only weeks before the trial was scheduled to start on May 12, 2022.
Twoteeth, who court documents show was arrested on a warrant, is also identified in the documents as Gerald Bearstail Buffalo.
Three accusers, who were residential clients at the First Nations-run addictions treatment centre, originally spoke with APTN. But the court documents show only one complainant was giving evidence at the trial. The court issued a ban on publishing the witness’s name.
The documents don’t explain why the charges were stayed.
Twoteeth did not respond to a request for comment from APTN.
