A Tinder date gone wrong sparked a three-year-long campaign of harassment that resulted in an innocent man being arrested three times, spending three nights in jail, and being forced to move three times to escape his tormentor, a court heard Monday.
“The behaviour you exhibited toward this gentleman is beyond the pale, it is almost unspeakable,” provincial court Judge Ray Wyant told 34-year-old Jennifer Plantz before ordering her to serve a 15-month conditional sentence under house arrest.
“This was a living nightmare for this man … I cannot imagine how awful, how terrified, and how upended his life has been,” Wyant said.
“This was a living nightmare for this man … I cannot imagine how awful, how terrified, and how upended his life has been.”–Judge Ray Wyant
Plantz pleaded guilty to criminal harassment and assault in connection more than 20 complaints she brought to Winnipeg police falsely claiming the man had stalked and sexually assaulted her.
In a brief victim impact statement, the man told court how Plantz turned his life upside down and left him unable to trust women or police.
“I can no longer answer the door, phone calls, or social media without getting anxiety and fearing that is you or the police coming to harass me again,” the man said. “I can no longer go to places in public without fearing you will be there waiting in some form to make my life miserable or even physically assault me.”
Court heard Plantz and the man contacted each other through the dating app Tinder and met for a single date in 2016.
“At no point were the two intimate” and a second date didn’t follow, said Crown attorney Laura Martin.
But for a couple of social media messages Plantz sent the man in 2018, the two had no further contact until Feb. 23, 2019, when Plantz showed up outside the man’s Elmwood apartment suite. The man did not let her inside and later reported Plantz appeared to be huffing on an aerosol can.
Later that same day, Plantz called city police to report the man had assaulted her, but in a subsequent interview denied having been assaulted. Police, Martin told court, “observed (her story) to be erratic and nonsensical.”
Plantz called police a day later, this time claiming the man had threatened to assault her and demanded that she be his girlfriend. During an interview later that day, Plantz left the police station “out of frustration,” Martin said.
“At this time, it was believed by police that she had fabricated this incident,” she said.
On March 11, 2019, Plantz returned to the man’s apartment block and pulled the fire alarm, telling responding firefighters she had come to recover her belongings from the man’s suite. Police who responded to the call found none of her belongings in the man’s suite.
Two days later, Plantz called police to again claim the man had assaulted her. Her claim was later discounted after it was found she had been admitted to a psychiatric ward at the time she alleged she was attacked.
Plantz didn’t contact the man again until Jan. 1, 2022, when she sent him text messages pretending to be someone he had met the night before. The man, knowing it was Plantz, told her to leave him alone or he would call police.
Plantz “indicated the police would laugh at him and … that she would be making stuff up about him and telling police,” Martin said.
“I can no longer answer the door, phone calls, or social media without getting anxiety and fearing that is you or the police coming to harass me again … I can no longer go to places in public without fearing you will be there waiting in some form to make my life miserable or even physically assault me.”–Victim’s impact statement
Days later, the woman called police claiming the man had sexually assaulted her at Club Regent Casino.
Security video showing neither Plantz nor the man had attended the casino later proved the allegation false, but not before the man spent a night in jail and Plantz secured a protection order against him.
The man spent another two days in custody after Plantz falsely claimed he had been calling her, violating the protection order.
Between May 2022 and September 2022, police, responding to more complaints from Plantz, visited the man’s home three times to warn him to stay away from her.
Plantz claimed on one occasion the man had threatened her with a gun, and on another provided police with photos showing injuries supposedly inflicted by the man. The same photos were used to support a subsequent assault claim by Plantz.
The man moved three times, repeatedly changed his phone number and blocked Plantz on social media in an attempt to escape her attacks.
On Oct. 30, 2022, following another false report from Plantz, police arrested the man during a traffic stop and impounded his car.
Taken to police headquarters, the man said he was the one being harassed, not Plantz. Police, after reviewing their own report history, released the man, Martin said.
The man was waiting outside for a ride home when Plantz came up to him and forcefully shoved him into the side of the building.
Plantz’ repeated complaints “were a clear waste of police resources,” Martin said.
“It was entirely unprovoked. There was no prior relationship. The impact on (the victim) was severe,” she said.
Wyant questioned why police continued to respond to the woman’s allegations when information would have been available on the police service database that her earlier complaints had been disproved.
“It seems to me that certain police officers seemed to know this was all made up, there is nothing to it, in fact he is the victim, not the perpetrator, but then on other occasions police went so far as to arrest him,” Wyant said.
Martin could provide little in the way of explanation, saying the Crown was not involved in authorizing any charges against the victim.
“It seems to me that certain police officers seemed to know this was all made up, there is nothing to it, in fact he is the victim, not the perpetrator, but then on other occasions police went so far as to arrest him.”–Judge Ray Wyant
“It seems, obviously, there was a disconnect that greatly impacted (the victim), but I am not in a position to speak to police practices or what went down,” she said.
The Winnipeg Police Service declined to comment on the case.
Court heard Plantz has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and borderline personality disorder, has long struggled with substance abuse, particularly of methamphetamine, and has spent long periods living on the street. Her childhood was marked by physical abuse and years spent in foster care.
“I can say the combination of her drug use, homelessness and her mental health issues very much placed her … at rock bottom,” said defence lawyer Tom Rees.
Since her arrest, Plantz has received residential treatment for her addictions and been admitted into a supportive housing program for women experiencing trauma and addiction,” Rees said.
“She does recognize the profound impact she has had on (the victim),” Rees said.
Plantz wants to maintain a sober lifestyle and “we can have confidence she is going to continue with this path,” Rees said.
Rees and Martin jointly recommended Plantz receive a conditional sentence served in the community. Wyant said he would normally be reluctant to consider such a recommendation, but for Plantz’ rehabilitative efforts since her arrest.
“I recognize that I am dealing with a person who is different than the person who committed these offences,” Wyant said.
dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca
Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter
Someone once said a journalist is just a reporter in a good suit. Dean Pritchard doesn’t own a good suit. But he knows a good lawsuit.