Editor’s note: Some of the details in this story discuss sexual assault and will be upsetting to many readers. Reader discretion is advised. A woman who was an inmate at the Algoma Treatment and Remand Centre in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., testified Wednesday that she made a deal with a corrections officer to give him “sexual favours.” In exchange, the woman said the jail guard, Derek Morgan, agreed to pick up a “package” for her that contained cocaine. When he failed to keep up his end of the bargain, she said she came up with a plan to blackmail him to try to force Morgan to bring her the drugs. Morgan is on trial in Sault Ste. Marie on several charges, including multiple counts of sexual assault, breach of trust and forcible confinement. None of the victims in the case can be identified under a publication ban designed to protect their identities. Agreed to bring her a ‘package’ In her second day of questioning via video by assistant Crown Jennifer Stanton, the woman said she told Morgan that he had to deliver the package before she would have sexual relations with him. When she was jailed in March of that year, the woman said she was a severe cocaine and booze addict. All she wanted were drugs, she said, and was willing to trade sex to get them. However, she said Morgan wanted sexual favours before he would bring her the package. Incidents took place on May 16 and May 17, 2025, inside the woman’s jail cell. She said she was certain Morgan digitally penetrated her on the morning of May 17, and that she also orally touched his penis. Under later questioning from defence lawyer Michael Moon, she admitted she wasn’t sure whether she touched Morgan’s penis on May 16 or May 17. She testified that Morgan promised he would pick up the package the following day, but didn’t keep his word. So the woman said she decided to blackmail him. She agreed to have sex with him the evening of June 13, 2025, and saved the semen that got on her shirt and other samples that she collected on a rag. Developed a plan to blackmail him She stored the stained shirt and rag on a shelf in her jail cell, hiding them under other clothes. A few weeks later in July, she slipped Morgan a note saying either he picked up her package or she would tell on him. She gave Morgan two days to comply, she testified. Instead, she said Morgan wrote her up for misconduct, saying that she had tried to bribe a guard. She said Morgan told her she would be shipped out to ‘Penetang’ — Central North Correctional Centre, a maximum-security jail in Penetanguishene. “Either this ends here or” she would be shipped to Penetang, she testified that Morgan told her. “Penetang is a very sh--ty jail that people don’t want to go to,” the woman said. “It was definitely a threat.” Instead, she asked to speak with “a white shirt,” a term for jail staff who supervise the jail guards. She told the supervisor that she didn’t bribe Morgan — she was blackmailing him and that she had evidence. She gave the female supervisor the semen-stained shirt, holding back the rag because she didn’t fully trust that a fair investigation would take place. Eventually, both the rag and the shirt were handed to jail officials. An investigation into Morgan’s alleged conduct ended with the criminal charges in October 2025. Played security camera videos Stanton played several videos in court Oct. 14 that showed Morgan on the woman’s “range” — or cell block — with Morgan entering the woman’s jail cell on multiple occasions. Those occasions included the evening of May 16, the morning of May 17 and the evening of June 13, when the woman testified the sexual encounters took place. In the May 17 video, the camera captures a female guard in the hallway while Morgan is inside the woman’s cell. As she gets close, he quickly emerges from the cell and both guards walk back down the hall and disappear from view. In the June 13 video, Morgan is seen entering the woman’s cell just after 9 p.m., with the cell door propped open with what appears to be a cloth. The woman had previously testified that the cell doors were locked each night from 9 p.m. until 8 a.m. In the video, there are papers on the windows of the woman’s cell so that you can’t see what’s going on inside. Morgan enters the cell for a short time and then is seen leaving. The woman testified that this was when they had sex and that she collected the blackmail evidence on the rag and her pajama shirt. The woman told Stanton that this was the first time she had seen the videos, and said she had not been offered a plea deal in exchange for her testimony. In his cross-examination, defence lawyer Michael Moon said not only was the woman a cocaine and booze addict, she had also been arrested for trafficking large amounts of cocaine, fentanyl and meth. Tried to attack her credibility Stanton objected several times to Moon’s questions, prompting the video feed for the woman to be turned off while they argued their case before Justice Peter Tetley. Moon said he was trying to show that the woman was not only an addict, but an active participant in the drug trade whose testimony wasn’t credible. For example, he tried to get her to admit that some of her tattoos were related to gangs. While Tetley overruled Stanton’s objection, he questioned whether Moon’s line of questioning about the tattoos would affect the woman’s credibility. “I’m just not sure I’m following the line of inquiry,” the judge said, adding that as things stand, the woman doesn’t have a criminal record and is yet to be tried on any of the drug charges. Under questioning, the woman denied any of her tattoos were gang-related. She did admit, however, that she may have gotten some dates wrong, adding that she wasn’t sure whether she gave Morgan oral sex on May 16, 2025, or on May 17. “One of the two days,” she said, adding that she was certain she was digitally penetrated on May 17. “You don’t have much of a recollection of what happened,” Moon said. “I remember that it happened, just not exactly when,” the woman replied. Stanton again objected to Moon’s line of questioning, raising concerns that some of the information he was seeking was covered by doctor-patient confidentiality. By the time that issue was resolved, it was late in the day. The trial resumes Thursday morning. It’s expected to last three weeks. There is help for victims of sexual assault in Algoma from Victim Services Algoma. Anyone in immediate danger should call 911. If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:
