The Decibel - Introducing In Her Defence: Breach of Trust

Episode Date: September 20, 2026

What happens when one of the “good guys” turns out to be a bad guy?The acclaimed true crime podcast series ‘In Her Defence’ returns with ’In Her Defence: Breach of Trust”. A seven-episode series exploring the case of Sgt. Robert Semenchuk, a Regina police officer who preyed on hundreds of vulnerable women using information from police databases.Some of those women risked it all to expose him, and hold him accountable. But would the system punish one of its own?Hosted by award-winning crime reporter Jana G. Pruden, and based on more than 50 hours of exclusive interviews with dozens of women, police officers, lawyers and legal experts, In Her Defence: Breach of Trust reveals serious gaps in the way law enforcement agencies in Canada are policing themselves, and the serious harm women are suffering as a result. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Hey, it's Manica. Today, I want to introduce you to the new season of In Her Defense, the Globe and Males' acclaimed True Crime podcast series. This season takes us to Regina, Saskatchewan, where a police officer preyed on hundreds of vulnerable women. He used his power to violate the law. This season of In Her Defense is called Breach of Trust. It's a seven-part series, and it's hosted by my colleague, Jana Pruden.

Jana has reported on crime and the courts across Canada for more than 20 years. She's especially focused on women in the justice system. Here's the first episode of the season. Two episodes are already out, and new ones drop every Tuesday. And of course, you can find and subscribe to In Her Defense Breach of Trust on your podcast feed. Well, let's go back to the beginning. How does this start? With him?

Honestly, wrong number. And it was Darcy. He was looking, oh, this isn't Darcy? And that's how it started. Give me a second. Tell you exactly how it started. I thought I will tell you. Yeah, see, Steve, wrong number, boy.

There's a lot to scroll back to. It just came up saying, hey, bud, how's it going? And I said, oops, no name to this. text, not sure who it is. It's Steve. And then he said, sorry, maybe I mixed up some numbers. And I said, not to be rude, but I know two steves. He's no problem. Is this Darcy? And I said, no, it's not. Who is this then? And I said, this is Sherry. Mistake number. Well, by now, already, too. And then he said, okay, sorry for the mix-up. At least I accidentally texted a female. I said, laughing my ass off. Yes, Regina girl, you're looking for.

And he said, I assume you're an adult since you go to Mavados. And I said, God, yes, how young are you? And he said, I was looking for a guy at work, ha, ha, couldn't read my own writing. I'm in Regina, too, and I'm 50. I said, okay, not under 19, laughing my ass off. You made me think, teenager, not sure why. He says, oh, weird. And I said, well, hopefully you find the right number.

I'm not a teen either. He says, I have sons that are just past teenage. I'd probably text like them. I just received a text message, and it was something along the lines of, hey, are you still doing drywall, John? I'm not sure the name, but something along that, and I just said, I'm sorry you have the wrong number. It was a wrong number.

It was something like, hey Rick, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I said, this is not really. Rick, so you're not getting the person that you're looking for. And he says, oh, okay. I'm sorry about that. And I said, that's quite all right. Have a great day. And that would be the way I'd answer any wrong number, you know?

Have a great day. That's just the way you are polite. It's a random fucking text message. The thing of playing it out that he was looking for a drywaller. And because of how long I was, I decided to respond. And it just snowballed from there where, oh, I hope I didn't message a child. I hope I didn't accidentally text a kid. And I was like, yeah, you got the wrong number.

And then he started talking to me, well, who is this? And, oh, you're not a kid, are you? No, I'm not a kid. I said, oh, no, I'm a mature woman. He was being friendly. And then he's like, I'm in Regina. Where are you? Weird, because I'm a man.

I'm in Regina too. He could have been from anywhere. And so then, a few days later, we just kept on texting back and forth. And he says, hey, would you like to get together? And I said, sure. A few years back, one of my friends sent me a message on Facebook. She said she'd been keeping a low profile. She said, if I told you why you wouldn't believe it.

But if you want to hear a sordid story about the Regina Police Service, let me know and I will fill you in. I spent seven years in Regina covering court and crime for the local newspaper. I wrote a lot of stories about the Regina police. So I obviously did want to hear this sorted story. I said I was all ears. And she said, buckle in. The story my friend told me was shocking.

It was disturbing. Honestly, it was almost unbelievable. The kind of story. that sounds more like a movie plot, or maybe the subject of a true crime podcast. And, well, here we are. This is the story of what happened to my friend. And a lot of other women.

You'll get to hear from some of them. Like Bridget. Someone needs to do something about it. And Colleen. Because they need to hear this. And Patricia. I'm not sure if I'm allowed. to swear, but it's a mind fuck.

And Sherry. Because it was like Dateline, but it was me. And Megan. And I hate him so fucking much. And Tina. Like what happens if he wasn't caught? And my friend who started it all. Carrie motherfucking Benjo.

Some women agreed to be interviewed, but didn't want their real names to be used. You know, as women, when we get a bad fight from somebody, you know, the hair in the back or neck will stand up or, you know, we just get like that creep vibe, and I didn't get that from him at all, ever. And there are others who didn't want to have their voices heard at all. But all these women together are telling a story that has implications far beyond their individual lives, about private information and public safety, about how police officers use their power, and what the

system will do to hold them accountable about sex, consent, and what happens when one of the good guys turns out to be a bad guy instead? I throw out a word like disgusting or sinister, because sometimes disturbing doesn't seem strong enough. The criminal law has not done a very good job of protecting the sexual integrity of women and girls. The fact that this happened in our organization is, it's disgusting. It's embarrassing. It's also a story about women fighting back. Looking how you targeted

them, do you have any answers to give them? Why didn't you choose those women? I'm Jana Prudent. From the Globe and Mail, this is in her defense, season three. Breach of Trust. Episode 1. Steve Wrong number boy.

We went through all of this. It started at 102. Okay. So by 142, I already know a lot, or I thought I knew a lot. He was sharing a lot and holy crap. This is Sherry Duncan. She lives in Regina. She has a good job and a grown daughter.

She can be, as she says, a little cheeky. You heard her at the beginning of this episode. She's the one who calls the guy who texted her, Steve wrong number boy. That's the way she has him saved in her phone. And then he went back to describing me. again and send a picture and then asked where I lived, whereabouts I lived. I looked fair, I sent him a face picture. He likes curves. Maybe he does have a type. Do we all have

curves? As you may have guessed by now, Sherry wasn't the only woman Steve Wrong Number Boy was texting. Asked about how tall. I mean, he's, he had all this information. He knew how tall I was. He knew what end of town I lived in. And that was at 148. Holy crap, this moved fast. Oh, and then asked if I was busty. And that was at 208. Holy Christ, I never looked at the times.

I was on my day off, so apparently I was chatty. But he did say, oh, sorry, maybe too personal. Oh, my God. Is that how he said it? Are you busting? Busty with question marks. So at some point you meet him in person. Tell me about meeting him in person.

Actually, it was fine. We were at Tim Hortons, and Tim Hortons is nice and busy, and probably there over an hour or so. And I didn't want to stay anymore. And when we were leaving, I know we kissed, and that's when he said he wanted to walk me to my car and I just, no, no way. And that was just the safety for me, but apparently wasn't really that safe. And is that something, is that how you would always have operated with going on a date with someone?

Or do you think was it specifically that you were unsure of him? Well, we met very oddly. And I under, you know what, there is a kismet thing or whatever. But I thought I was being cautious. I thought. And then I know that if we go further in the things he was really pushing to come to my house. And I said, no, I smoke in my house. So you might be thinking, it's weird to meet someone this way.

A wrong number text and then you start talking and it's a man in your city and he wants to meet. That's strange. Maybe it's easy to be a bit judgy of these. women. Like, what did they expect? These women knew it was weird. But it felt like fate, or like Sherry said, Kismet. In romantic comedies, they call it a meet cute, an adorable and interesting way to meet someone, like it was meant to be. And Steve Wrong Number Boy was really good at turning things around. I said, I don't trust. I trust no one. Sorry about that, just watching my back. He's like, okay, well, then this won't work at all if you have no trust at all. I'll leave you then.

But Sherry wanted to keep seeing him, so she stopped asking questions. He was also texting Patricia Nichol. And as it happens, they also met for the first time at Tim Hortons. I would never just meet anybody out, like, privately. So I said, I can meet you at Tim Hortons in the Easton at this time. So he said, he said, I said, sure, sure, that sounds great. Well, I went, and then he didn't show up. So I was there for about an hour. And I'm a bus driver, so I'm always early. I'm always, so I'm waiting and waiting and waiting.

And then, so I left, and then about a half an hour later, he texted, and he says, there was a medical emergency. My mom fell, and I had to get her in an ambulance. And I said, oh, that's fine. And he says, I could bring a coffee by your house. I said, no, no, no. I said, I will meet you at Tim Hortons. An hour later, he met me there, and we sat down and we talked for an hour, an hour and a half.

And it was just a nice, easy conversation. And that's, I've dated off the internet before. And I always meet in a public place first and have coffee because I figure if somebody's comfortable to meet you in public, then they don't have any secrets to hide. Well, in the beginning, he asked me about myself and I told them that I'd, you know, it was. was widowed and he was very, very kind and listened to what was going on in my life with being essentially kicked out of my home that I had with Rob. Tina Foote was going through the worst time in her life when she got the wrong number text. Her partner Rob had died and she had to find a new place to live. And she started to rely on Steve wrong number boy.

Didn't necessarily give me recommendations for contractors, but definitely told me what to look for. And then it just became flirty, and then we did meet. We went for coffee at the Tim Hortons. And after we had this coffee, he arrived late. I had almost finished my coffee. And I honestly thought I was being ghosted. After the coffee, walked me to my car, he gave me a hug and a kiss.

and then I got home and about half an hour later he text and said that he wanted to see me again and yeah it was excited somebody wanted to see me again and in before them he stops responding were things still going along with your relationship yeah yeah yeah it's not that we saw each other a lot we saw each other a little bit like not a whole lot But I have a busy life and he said that he was pretty busy doing stuff. And, you know, looking back to it now, you kind of think about what exactly did I, like, did I have blinders on? But it was like I said to you the last time, when you're feeling so incredibly unloved for so long and someone takes interest in you, you kind of think, oh, oh, maybe, maybe things are good. Even in the beginning I was like, yeah, I like to meet you, but this is kind of really weird.

I felt like it was weird just meeting somebody over a wrong number. You know, like, it's just very unusual. He's like, yeah, but maybe it's fate. Like, maybe, but... Or maybe you're just a creep. This is Bridget Sear. She's a mother of eight who raised her kids alone after leaving an abusive ex. When she started texting with Steve Wrong Number Boy, she was going through cancer treatment.

He wanted pictures of me to see what I look like. And I was like trying to look him up on Facebook and stuff. And nothing was coming up. And I was like, well, you don't have a Facebook? And he's like, no, I don't use Facebook. You could just send him to WhatsApp. And I was like, I don't even know what that is. and I described myself to him and stuff

and he is all about it. He was where we should meet for coffee. When you met him in person, what kind of person did he seem like to you? I saw him in the very beginning as that he was compassionate. It was a nice guy. But over the course of talking to him,

I found him pushy because I was, I was trying to tell him, look, I'm sick. And that wasn't good enough. Oh, I'm out with my daughter. He didn't believe me. I had to send him a picture of me and my daughter together. It was like he was being possessive. And, but at the same time, he was saying things like, I'm looking after my dad.

He's got Alzheimer's and stuff like that. And, you know, I'm a really busy guy. And I thought, well, he must be a good guy. He's looking after a sick dad and stuff. But I found him pushy and, yeah, kind of too aggressive. And all he wanted to do was talk about sex and show me a video of him in the shower. I'm like, no, dude, I've seen it before. It's not great.

You wouldn't want to be sending that. I'm like, seriously. I was like, no, I don't want to see that. I don't. And it was always about sex. And I was like, yeah, that's not what I'm looking for. I wasn't looking for any kind of relationship at all. You know, I have a big family.

My life is full. I wasn't looking for a relationship. I've been down that road too many times, and it never worked out for me as far. So I just didn't care anymore, right? I wasn't looking for that. And so this, I mean, there's a few things that stand out to me, this wanting to come over to see you,

and you're in cancer treatment. and you're sick, and he knows that that you've had cancer treatment, and he's aggressively bullying you to come over. And then I'll say, what's wrong with this guy? He's not getting it. I'm not well. Like, give me a couple weeks. I told him I need a couple weeks so that this treatment makes me feel like garbage.

This is another woman. She's asked us not to identify her. And it was always, always personal. Like, what did you do today? And I would tell them. And it would always lead to the sexual. Like, I washed my car. Oh, I wish I could see you doing that in a bikini.

I wish you could send me pictures of that. Yeah. Sorry, I just went on there. No. That's how it went. And it was constant. And at first I went along with it because I don't know. don't know. Maybe my self-esteem was a little lacking. I don't know. Oh, oh, that's kind of gross.

Okay, we're not going to go into that. Yeah, I'm not going to go into that. You don't, you don't need to tell us, and also you don't need to tell us what's gross, but do you want to say generally what's happening? Only if you want to. Oh, he's trying to tell me what he likes. Okay. And he's like, what are you wearing now, like I'm older, I don't play games, but we'll never say what is supposed to happen. It is part of a moment. And then how big are your tits again? I'm going to figure out what day this is, but yeah, I looped them up and I'll fuck them and send me a pick of your, yeah, no, no.

I don't know why I didn't see all this right off the bat. And when I went out with him, when I got in the vehicle, I thought, I felt weird because he was really clean, put together. His vehicle was spotless. So I was like, okay, what kind of single guy is, you know, this put together, right? Did I hit the jackpot? The guy has hair, teeth? I'm good. And the stage, you know, you don't ask for much, right?

So then I was like, okay, so we went out and then when he brought me home, he kissed me and grabbed my breasts. And then we kept talking and he was always wanting pictures of me. And I was like, yeah, I'm not sending you pictures because, you know, I have a son who's you know, I'm going to be a cop and I don't want to ruin it for him, so I'm not sending you pictures.

By pictures, you mean naked pictures. He was sweet and gentle to me, though. And this is Colleen Lark. She's a mom of two sons. Her boys are really protective of her. And when she met Steve Wrong Number Boy, she thought

she finally met a good guy. He was sweet and gentle to me and caring, but he was I'm sex crazy you could tell that all in the text always wanted pictures of

naked pictures of me and everything and I guess to admit to honestly admit you know I thought I wasn't wanted

because I'm a bigger woman so it made me feel good kind of right it made me feel hey I'm okay there's nothing wrong

with me you know so it kind of gave me a push of confidence in a way, but easily. So back in December of 2017, I left a very toxic relationship. And basically, I left with nothing. I didn't have a job. All I had was my daughter in my car, and he didn't let me take anything. This is my friend, Carrie Benjo.

the woman who messaged me in April 2023 and said she had a sordid story to tell about the police in Regina. And so I got into a shelter, me and my daughter. The shelters were really crowded. Like I did have, there was a wait list. And it was such a surreal moment. It was, for me, it was just like, reminded me of being back in LaBrette right down to the bunk beds and stuff.

LeBrette is the residential school Carrie went to when she was a girl. She's indigenous, a Soto woman from the Muscopeeding First Nation. And so it was a very humbling experience. So I was there planning for the future and stuff like that. When my ex, my abusive ex, got an argument, then he grabbed me and he like threw me around in the basement while nobody was there. And I was in a different place. You know, I was in a shelter. Everybody knew I was in an abusive relationship. So there was no hiding it anymore. And so I went back to the shelter. They asked

how it went and I said that what he did. And they're like, what do you want to do about it? And then I thought about it. Because we had not seen each other in two months and he still felt like he had the right to put his hands on me. I thought that it would be best if I actually laid formal charges. And I talked to some ladies there and they came to the police station with me and they supported me and we filed a report. And I thought at the time, like, okay, well, I'm doing something. I'm doing something positive. I'm not hiding it. I'm taking control. I'm not going to allow this person to control any part of my life. So I cut off everybody.

I was very isolated. My whole entire support system was gone. My coworkers weren't there because it was off work. It was just me, my daughter, some ladies at the shelter. And that was it. About two weeks after I filed the report, so probably late February, early March is when I got that first supposedly random text.

It was like, hey Rick, hey man, what's up? I responded something funny. Like, I'm sorry, I have something to tell you. And he's like, what is it? I was like, something about me not being a man anymore. And then finally, I was like, just kidding. You have the wrong number. And he was like, ha-ha, you're funny.

And then I just thought because it was a new phone, that he was just texting an old number. I just left it at that, but he just kept messaging. And it was nice to be able to talk to somebody that wasn't one of my children. It was a nice little, you know, break from everyday life. Like, we could just joke around. And when I went back to the shelter that we had to turn in our phones, and then when I'd leave the shelter,

I'd turn on my phone. He was texting me, and finally I just basically told him that I can't text you after eight because that's our curfew, and I told him that I was living in a shelter. He was very understanding about that, very, he's like, oh, I'm sorry to hear that. And then he became sort of somebody I could talk to about the domestic violence, you know, but so he became my sounding board, and he was always very understanding. and compassionate, and I really appreciated the fact that he never once said, why didn't you just leave?

But he was very patient, like, he didn't push for me to meet him. So we just continued talking. For a few months, I just thought it was serendipitous, you know, like just, like a wrong number text. He becomes this person that is just easy to talk to. He's understanding, he's caring, he's any. doesn't know me because one of the things when we're talking, I said, you might know me. I was like, do you follow the news? He said, no, not really. He said, it's not much of a reader.

And I was like, people know me. Usually they know my name before they know me. This is true. Carrie is a high profile person. She's a really well-known journalist and public speaker in Regina and a commentator on the national news. Regina isn't a big city. A lot of people know who she is. But it seems like her new friend didn't. And so it was somewhat freeing to be able to just be carry, not carry the reporter, not carry the DV victim. I was just carry, you know, ordinary carry.

And then I moved into a second stage shelter. So I had my phone all day. So we could talk all day long. And when I was in the second stage shelter, that is where, And I told him that, yeah, possibly, you know, we could meet. And I was still dealing with my abuser, and I was scared to be out in public. I was scared of him still. My abuser could be very violent.

He's very confrontational. And I could totally see him getting into an altercation with anybody I was with because he had done it previously. And so that's one of the reasons I didn't want to be out in public with Jay, because he had told me his name was Jay Lewis. Jay Lewis said he was a construction contractor, a divorced father of two boys. And so we did meet. He came to the shelter.

And then I joked at him. I was like, you know, there's not supposed to be any men here. He was like, well, I'll just tell them I'm the cable guy. I was like, yeah, they'd probably believe you because, you know, it was just a average-looking white male. And when he came over, like, he was dressed the part. He looked like he was in construction. He had the work pants and the work boots and a thick zip-up hoodie. And he had some Oakley sunglasses.

and he is very easy to get along with. And so we continued a friendship. They were intimate at times, but more than anything, Jay was a really good friend, one of the most important people in her life. She really needed him. Even as she moved out of the women's shelter,

Carrie was dealing with a lot. She'd suffered a serious injury to her foot when she was with her ex, and it had never healed. And then I, ended up getting sick and having to go into a hospital and I found out that my injured foot was actually killing me because there was blood poisoning happening and my and basically I had to make the decision to to amputate my leg. I had told my daughter that

after this I said I'm I'm gonna do everything I can to protect other women. I was like I don't anybody else to go through this. And then when I got out of the operation, there were a few people that I let know what happened. And I messaged him and told him what happened. He was like, I'm so sorry and stuff like that. And then I didn't see him for a very long time. You know, like I was going through the process of learning how to walk,

learning how to adjust to, you know, just living with my prosthetic leg. And it was like the ugliest leg at the time. It was like awful a plaster and there was like these big bands that kept the leg on my leg. But he still

wanted to see me and it took a long time probably a good three months before I said okay. He came over and we spent the afternoon together

and then when he was leaving, he stopped and he said, you're still the same. You're still beautiful. For a while, Carrie and Jay were really close. But it didn't seem like they had a future together, and there were periods where they didn't talk. They saw each other on and off for five years. And by then, Carrie had changed.

She was rebuilding her life, feeling more like herself. When she got a job as the editor-in-chief of an indigenous this newspaper, her relationship with Jay seemed to be coming to a natural end. Once I took over Eagle Feather News, I just didn't have time. You know, like, it's just my, I had a focus. It was on my, you know, I was doing this and I was doing that. And it was, I was so busy that he just didn't fit in my life anymore. And he was just a,

a nice little memory, you know. A nice little memory of a good friend who'd helped her through a rough time. But then, a few days into 2023, Jay came back into her life. He texted her a belated, happy new year. We had made plans to meet, and he didn't show.

Then he went like radio silent. And I was like, start talking to him. I was like, what's going on? And he made a comment about things came up. I was like, it's not like I have a lot of free days. You know, I was like, I made time for you. I said time aside for you.

And then he said, my dad was in the effing hospital. And I was like, oh, okay. The fact that he said my dad was in the effing hospital, I just, I couldn't let that slide because it seemed like it was said in anger and he used profanity, which he never did ever in our texting conversations. And that's when I was like, do I really know this guy? And I started thinking about it. And then I was thinking like, how could I find out who he is?

Then, just like that. I was watching a TikTok, and there was this TikTok that said, if you ever want to find out about somebody, you can reverse image search using this website. I was like, huh. And so I pulled up the website, and I uploaded into that website. It got three hits. and I had to pay 20 bucks to reveal it.

And so I paid. The photo got unveiled. And it was him standing beside a staff sergeant who I knew because, like, I reported on a lot of stuff within the city. And in the background, there was a police jacket over a police. a door. And he was sitting, he didn't have any, he just had a shirt on and he had some earbuds on and he was sitting at a desk. That other person or the staff sergeant had his armor on him and there taking a selfie. In the back of my mind, I was still kind of thinking because he did a lot of contract work and because at the time the police were renovating that, there was the possibility that he was just there and he was working.

But something in the back of my mind was like, I need to find out for sure. And I did know people who worked in the police service and I messaged somebody and asked, hey, do you know this person? And she said, oh, yeah. And I was like, oh, okay. And I tried to make it seem like it was like just casual. And we went out and had some coffee and dessert. And I was like, well, we're here.

Like, I was like, that photo I sent you. And she's like, oh, yeah. And I said, I know the staff sergeant, but who's the other guy? She's like with the dark hair. And I was like, yeah. She's like, oh, that's, that's Bob. Bob Simmons and Chuck. And Bob was a police officer, a sergeant with the Regina Police Service.

I think the majority, if not all of the victims, were unaware that he had victimized them. We went to his workplace, you know, armed, not expecting a physical confrontation, but having that in the back of our minds that that was a possibility. And there's always this sort of David and Goliath type of battle, you know, like, for me as an indigenous woman coming up against the police. That's next time on In Her Defense, Breach of Trust. In Her Defense is made by Kashamah Milovich and me, Jana Pruden. Additional field recording by Amber Bracken.

Sound design and mixing by David Crosby. Our executive editor is Angela Pichenza. Our theme song is Black Horses by Birdbelly. This season of In Her Defense was recorded by Omar Mualam at Huck Story Studios. special thanks to Gabrielle McLean for her feedback and encouragement. If you're a new listener, make sure you follow in her defense and check out our earlier seasons. And if you like the show, please share it with someone. You can also email me at J-P-R-U-D-E-N at globe and mail.com.

Thank you for listening.