Two women are suing former Regina police sergeant Robert Semenchuck, who used an internal database to get their contact information and then pursued intimate relationships with them while hiding he was a cop.
Robert Semenchuck pleaded guilty to criminal charges of breach of trust and unlawful use of a computer in November 2025. In February 2026, he received a conditional sentence order — served in the community — of two years less a day, followed by three years of probation.
Now, Bridgette Cyr and Kerry Benjoe are asking a civil court to award them damages, alleging sexual assault, misfeasance in public office, breach of privacy, negligence and breach of trust.
The women say that Semenchuck’s actions have deeply affected their mental health and sense of self.
Semenchuck denies the women’s allegations of sexual assault.
While he was with the Regina Police Service, Semenchuck accessed the private information of 33 women in an internal police database, then used that knowledge to try to form intimate relationships with them, according to the agreed statement of facts from his criminal case.
Between 2015 and 2023, Semenchuck repeatedly contacted women through texts, sending messages seemingly meant for someone else, then “slowly” built trust after the women replied indicating he had the wrong person, according to the agreed statement of facts.
Semenchuck lied about his name and job during these conversations, concealing he was a police officer, the agreed facts said.
Cyr and Benjoe were among the women targeted. They filed their civil lawsuits against Semenchuck in Regina Court of King’s Bench on May 26 and June 25, respectively.
Both women said they were sexually assaulted because their consent was only obtained through Semenchuck’s “fraudulent misrepresentations regarding his identity, occupation, marital status and the nature of his interest” in them.
The deception, Semenchuck’s abuse of his position as a police officer, “exploitation of confidential information he obtained through his employment,” bad faith, “and the significant imbalance of power and authority he exercised over” Cyr and Benjoe invalidates any apparent consent, the statements of claim said.
Semenchuck “specifically denies” the women’s allegations of sexual assault in his statements of defence filed against Cyr’s lawsuit on July 10 and Benjoe’s on July 24. In them, he alleged that consent was “freely and voluntarily given.”
“A deception as to a party’s name, occupation or personal circumstances does not, at law, vitiate consent to sexual contact,” his statements of defence said.
Semenchuck also denied that his position as a police officer, “his access to information, or any imbalance between the parties” invalidates consent.
He denied that the women are entitled to damages.
According to his statements of defence, Semenchuck does not “seek to relitigate any fact established” by his criminal convictions and admits he accessed the database for personal gain while employed by the Regina Police Service, sometimes using police-issued equipment and seeing women while on duty.
Benjoe and Cyr’s allegations have not been tested in civil court.
CBC requested an interview with Semenchuck’s lawyer, who declined to comment at this time.
Maurice Laprairie, the lawyer representing Benjoe and Cyr, said both women are “incredibly unsatisfied” with the criminal case process and question why sexual assault charges were never laid.
“They don’t feel like they got any justice in the provincial court,” he said.
Laprairie said the criminal sentence only punished the breach of trust Semechuk committed against the Regina police, “an institution, and not the real victims.”
Both women alleged in their claims that Semenchuck “developed and maintained a deceptive relationship” with them “for his own personal and sexual gratification,” and did so while on duty “using police-issued resources — including his work cellphone, computer and fleet vehicle.”
Wrong person texts
Semenchuck first contacted Cyr in December 2022, while she was undergoing cancer treatment, “fraudulently identifying” himself as “Steve Perkins,” a divorced construction consultant, according to Cyr’s statement of claim.
The claim alleged that the two maintained a relationship until March 2023, during which time Semenchuck “pressured her” into sexual activity and sending intimate, nude photographs.
It also said that Cyr has suffered “serious physical, psychological, emotional and dignitary harm” as a “direct result” of the alleged sexual assaults.
Like Cyr, Benjoe argued her consent was vitiated by Semenchuck’s “deliberate misrepresentation of his identity,” abuse of his position as a police officer, exploitation of confidential information, bad faith and the significant imbalance of power and authority he held over Benjoe, according to her statement of claim.
She alleged that Semenchuck first texted her using information he obtained from the police database in February 2018, “fraudulently identifying himself as ‘Jay Lewis,'” a separated construction contractor.
He texted Benjoe, “Hey Rick, what’s up man?” and then continued to message after finding out it was a wrong number, the statement of claim said.
“This contact was not a random ‘wrong number,’ as the defendant claimed, but was a targeted solicitation,” made possible by Semenchuck’s use of the Regina police computer system, Benjoe’s statement of claim said.
From his access to the computer system, Semenchuck would have known she had been abused and recently reported her former common-law partner to police for assault, it said.
“For 44 months after the defendant first targeted and contacted the plaintiff, the defendant maintained this fraudulent identity with the plaintiff, engaged in multiple sexual activities with her,” according to Benjoe’s statement of claim.
Women want intimate images destroyed
Benjoe also shared photos with Semenchuck at his request, according to her statement of claim.
She and Cyr are requesting a court order for Semenchuck to return or destroy any intimate images he has of them.
In his statements of defence, Semenchuck said he “does not oppose an appropriately framed order” to return or destroy intimate images of the women within his possession, “without any admission of liability.”
‘Profound loss of trust’ claimed
Cyr and Benjoe alleged that Semenchuck’s actions have caused them “severe emotional distress,” a “profound loss of trust in authority” and “a fundamental alteration” of their personalities, transforming them into “someone guarded, suspicious and fearful.”
The two women said they now experience insomnia, panic episodes and depression.
According to Benjoe’s statement of claim, her ability to work was also affected and she lost employment opportunities.
In Cyr’s case, she left Regina, “her home for 20 years and the centre of her medical care, emotional and support network” and moved across the province to “a community hundreds of kilometers away, out of fear.”
She said in the claim that she feared Semenchuck or others acting on his behalf might stalk or retaliate against her because of her co-operation in the investigation against him.
The women are requesting punitive damages, arguing Semenchuck’s “conduct warrants punishment and deterrence beyond compensatory damages.”
Laprairie said civil courts have “an enormous” amount of power to award damages that could deter other police officers from similar actions.
Semenchuck denied this in his statements of defence, saying “an award of punitive damages is neither rational nor necessary,” as his criminal punishment already denounces and deters his actions.
Semenchuck also argued the women’s claims of misfeasance in public office, breach of privacy, negligence and breach of trust are subject to a two-year statute of limitations, which he said has already expired.
“The limitation period was not postponed by reason of the criminal investigation or prosecution,” it said.
Semenchuck requested Cyr’s and Benjoe’s claims against him be dismissed with costs.
