No jail time for former Edmonton police officer who pleaded guilty to perjury

A former Edmonton police officer who pleaded guilty to committing perjury during his own previous criminal trial will not go to jail.

Lauren Skibinsky, a former constable with the Edmonton Police Service, was acquitted of forgery charges last year related to traffic tickets that were altered after they had been issued.

On Monday, he was handed a 12-month suspended sentence for perjury. That means he will have a criminal record but won't serve time in custody.

Skibinsky was also sentenced to complete 100 hours of community service within the first nine months of his sentence.

"This is a very unfortunate situation," Court of King's Bench Justice Paul Belzil said before sentencing Skibinsky in an Edmonton courtroom.

Wearing a suit, Skibinsky stood to enter his guilty plea but declined to address the court when given the opportunity.

Skibinsky's defence lawyer Mike Danyluik and Calgary Crown prosecutor Ken McCaffrey made a joint submission on sentencing, telling the court they came to an agreement after several months of negotiations.

Previous acquittal

According to an agreed statement of facts, the perjury investigation was launched by the Edmonton police professional standards branch after Skibinsky was acquitted on charges of obstructing justice, forgery and officer misconduct.

Those original charges related to allegations that Skibinsky had pre-filled out 60 tickets ahead of a May 2017 traffic operation, putting down July 29, 2017, as the court date. That date fell on a Saturday, when traffic court is closed.

Sometime after the tickets were handed out to drivers, Skibinsky changed the court date to July 28, 2017 – a Friday. The tickets were then processed by EPS.

The different dates were noticed both by courthouse staff and one of the civilians who received two tickets.

The EPS professional standards branch was notified and a criminal investigation was launched, resulting in Skibinsky being charged. As part of the investigation, copies of the original tickets were requested and obtained.

During a January 2021 trial, Skibinsky took the stand and told court that while he had pre-filled the wrong date and changed it, he did so before handing out the tickets to drivers.

He was shown copies of the tickets and denied having altered them after-the-fact, pointing out the poor quality of the photocopies .

Skibinsky was acquitted of all three charges.

New investigation

But then in March 2021, the EPS professional standards branch launched an investigation and collected five of the original tickets handed out to drivers. Tickets use layered carbon copy paper, meaning information written on the top sheet will be imprinted on those below it.

The copy given to drivers is yellow and part three of a four part ticket.

The investigators were also able to get 49 of the 52 tickets from the courthouse and found that parts one, two and four all appeared to have had the date altered. Part three, which had been given to drivers, wasn't altered, proving Skibinsky had in fact changed the tickets.

In July 2021, Skibinsky was charged with perjury and relieved from duties without pay.

Skibinsky has no previous criminal record and resigned from EPS in April. He worked as a police officer for 18 years.