Advocates for missing and murdered women demonstrate outside the Vernon courthouse before Curtis Sagmoen's sentencing (Image Credit: Pete McIntyre / Vernon Matters Staff)

By Pete McIntyre / Vernon Matters

B.C. Supreme Court

Sagmoen sentenced for running into sex trade worker with ATV

Jun 19, 2020 | 3:01 PM

VERNON, B.C. — A North Okanagan man convicted of running into a sex trade worker with an ATV, was handed a five-month jail sentence, along with three years of probation.

Curtis Sagmoen was sentenced in B.C. Supreme Court in Vernon Friday after being convicted of assault causing bodily harm in February.

When given credit for time already served, the 40-year-old Sagmoen will only have to serve one day in custody.

Justice Gary Weatherill imposed more than a dozen conditions on Sagmoen’s probation including no contact with sex trade workers and limited use of communication devices and the internet.

The offender was also handed a 10-year firearms ban.

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Sagmoen, who jotted down notes on a yellow notepad during the hearing, agreed with the probation conditions set out by the judge and said he would abide by them.

Sagmoen invited an escort to his home on Salmon River Road near Falkland in August 2017, but became upset when she refused to go with him until he paid her beforehand.

As she was trying to leave, he struck the woman from behind with his ATV, throwing her into the air and causing her to land face down on the road.

The victim suffered a bump to her head, bruises, and road rash.

In a victim impact statement read out in court, the woman said the assault has “forever changed [her] life in a way she never could have imagined” and caused her ongoing physical and emotional trauma.

“The pain from her injuries continues to this day. She struggles with anxiety and fear. She has difficulty trusting people. She constantly looks over her shoulder,” Justice Weatherill said in his decision.

Sagmoen’s lawyer, Lisa Jean Helps, said her client had a “long standing drug problem” at the time of this incident, and another one involving another sex trade worker 17 days prior at the same site.

“He was someone who was not acting in their right head,” Helps said. She noted Sagmoen was addicted to methamphetamine at the time.

Helps said Sagmoen is now “drug-free’ after completing a program while held in custody.

“He is doing well. There have been no breaches [of his probation from his conviction in December 2019.]”

The judge noted Sagmoen expressed his remorse for the crime.

“He acknowledges through his counsel that his actions were at the very least reckless with a disregard for [the victim’s] safety. He feels terrible about her injuries and has expressed his under understanding that it could have been a great deal more serious,” Weatherill said.

Weatherill said the Crown and defence made what was, in essence, a joint submission on sentence as Crown lawyer Simone McCallum recommended a four to five-month custodial sentence with three years of probation, which Helps agreed with.

The justice noted Sagmoen was a member of the Pile Drivers, Bridge, Dock and Wharf Builders Union Local 2404 who was working regularly before his arrest and is anxious to resume work again.

Sagmoen was raised in Maple Ridge and moved with his parents to his present home on Salmon River Road between Falkland and Salmon Arm in 2004.

At the time of the incident he had no prior criminal record other than for impaired driving in 2011.

After that, he was convicted of assault in February 2019 for an offence with a sex trade worker in 2013, and was convicted of three offences including disguising his face to commit an indictable offence in December 2019 for an incident involving a sex trade worker on Salmon River Road in August 2017.

About 20 advocates for murdered and missing women demonstrated outside the courthouse prior to Sagmoen’s sentencing, similar to his previous appearances.