Robert Eric Semenchuck: Police officer used Regina, Canada victim database as own personal dating service

A former police officer has pleaded guilty to using police databases to pursue relationships with more than 30 women.

Allegations were made against Robert Eric Semenchuck, 53, in 2023 when a member of the public brought their concerns to the Regina Police Service in Canada, the same police force he worked for.

Semenchuck was suspended with pay immediately following this allegation, and his access to police databases was removed.

On March 11 this year, Semenchuck was charged with one count of breach of trust and one count of unauthorised use of a computer.

Police alleged the former officer had accessed RPS “internal databases for a non-work purpose” and had used the information he gathered to “pursue personal relationships”.

Farooq Sheikh, the former RPS chief, told reporters some of the relationships Semenchuck had been pursuing were “intimate” at a press conference in March, Regina Leader-Post reported.

Mr Sheikh said all of the people who had been affected were women and that it appeared the conduct had taken place for a “number of years”.

Although Semenchuck had pleaded guilty, no agreed facts of the case have been provided to the court, and so there is little clarity about the specific conduct he is taking legal responsibility for.

According to The Globe and Mail, the number of women affected could be as high as 30.

He reportedly used fake names to send texts to the women and posed as a contractor or project manager.

One woman, identified only as “K”, said she had first received communication from Semenchuck after she had fled from a domestic abuse situation and was recovering in a women’s shelter.

They spoke for years before she decided to run his picture through facial-recognition software. Her search returned a picture of Semenchuck in his police uniform.

“I can’t describe the feeling, everything that went through my head in that moment,” she told The Globe and Mail.

“One of the first things that hit me was fear. Fear of this person, his power and what he could do.”

She then contacted RPS, which triggered an internal investigation that led to the charges being laid.

Semenchuck pleaded guilty to both charges against him on November 21 during a hearing at Regina provincial court before Judge Marylynee Beaton, just over eight months after the charges were laid.

Another unidentified woman said she had a relationship with Semenchuck, who posed as “Steve” for more than a year.

The 53-year-old reportedly sat quietly while his lawyer, Nicolas Brown, entered the pleas on his behalf.

Mr Brown asked Judge Beaton to order a pre-sentencing report, and a court hearing has been scheduled for January 2026, where submissions on the sentencing can be made.

Such reports allow defence lawyers to submit key information about the offender, which might impact their sentence. This includes health considerations.