Woman alleges suspended Victoria police officer threatened her

A woman who filed a complaint against a Victoria police officer alleges he threatened to leak explicit videos of her.

Felicia McCreight, 22, claims she was having an affair with VicPD officer Jose Bingham earlier this year.

“He said, ‘OK, I want to take sex tapes of you as reassurance — and I quote — that you won’t tell my wife,’” McCreight said in an interview with CTV News.

McCreight claims Bingham said the videos would be leaked online if she told his wife. She said at least 12 videos were recorded on his phone because at the time, she felt safe with him.

Bingham has not responded to CTV’s request for comment. There are currently no charges against the officer and the allegations against him have not been proven in court.

“I always very much viewed Jose as a respected police officer,” McCreight said. “He has worked in the field for decades.”

McCreight said they met when she was 15 and dating Bingham’s son. At the time, she said she was on the street and using drugs. McCreight said she got sober and they reconnected last year, when she was 21 and Bingham was 49.

“I very much trusted him,” she said.

When the relationship started to crumble, McCreight said she asked for the videos.

“He was not letting me have them,” she said.

INVESTIGATION UNDERWAY 

In July, McCreight reported Bingham to the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner (OPCC). It tasked Vancouver police with the investigation.

“Due to the nature and seriousness of the allegations, the commissioner considered it to be in the public interest to direct this investigation be completed by an external police agency,” deputy police complaint commissioner Andrea Spindler said in a statement.

Bingham was suspended shortly after McCreight said she provided evidence to Vancouver police and went public with the allegations on TikTok.

“The Victoria Police Department takes allegations of misconduct seriously and fully supports the investigative process and this (suspension) decision,” VicPD said in a statement.

'YOU RETRAUMATIZED ME BY DISMISSING ME'

Before going to the OPCC, McCreight said she told Bingham’s wife and then reported him to VicPD.

“I told (VicPD) everything. I said, ‘He threatened me to post my stuff online,’” she said.

“I said, ‘I’m scared that now that I’ve told his wife that he’s going to carry out that threat.’”

She claims an officer told her it was a personal issue and not a criminal matter.

“He was incredibly rude to me,” she said. “You retraumatized me by dismissing me altogether.”

VicPD said trauma-informed practice is part of many of its required training courses.

“We are committed to providing culturally safe, responsive and trauma-informed services and providing a victim-centred approach that supports victim safety,” VicPD said.

'I FEEL EMPOWERED' 

McCreight said over the past few months, she felt powerless, but coming forward has helped change that.

“I feel relieved and I feel empowered as a young woman to share my story because it takes a lot of courage to stand up against… a police officer, but also the whole department who treated me poorly,” she said.

“I’m also hoping that it empowers other women like me who have been victimized to stand up for themselves and share their stories.”