Former cadet testifies she was shocked her naked pictures were sent to police when applying for job

A cadet who was applying to be a police officer says she was told to withdraw her application after Brandon police were given nude images she sent to an officer she was having an affair with.

Brittany Roque is suing Terri-Lyn Peters for sharing intimate images without her consent. Roque had sent the pictures to Peters' then-boyfriend Ryan Friesen in text messages and on Snapchat after entering into a relationship with him in 2015.

Roque testified virtually Monday — the first day of a civil trial on the matter, held in front of a judge in Brandon. She said after being shortlisted for a job with Brandon police, a staff sergeant told her police had nude images of the cadet with her face in them.

"I was pretty embarrassed and shocked. A lot of confusion, again, I was naively thinking that he didn't have those images so obviously being pretty shocked that he did and that the BPS had them and had seen them," Roque testified while fighting back tears Monday.

She said in court police told her she was the top candidate on a shortlist for the job before the meeting. 

"I was actually extremely excited. I know I didn't get hired at that moment but I, this was the first competition I ever applied for and to be ranked No. 1 was a huge accomplishment for me."

A staff sergeant asked Roque to fill out a form and withdraw her application, she testified. 

"He had indicated to me that the executive team had already met in regards to the situation and they were giving me the opportunity to withdraw and I could go tell whoever whatever I wanted and that if I didn't I would subsequently be removed from the competition."

Roque said before the meeting she had run into Peters for the first time during a shopping trip at the Brandon Walmart. 

"Basically that she approached me and as she's clearly stated kind of marked her territory that was evident as the time she introduced herself very clearly and blatantly as Ryan Friesen's wife." 

She testified that after this interaction she started to get text messages from a number she didn't recognize, that belonged to Peters.

'Karma a joy to watch': Message

"You put them out there. Now they're out there for the whole world to see," one message read.

"You are quite a horrible person. Karma is going to be a joy to watch," another said.

She said she was puzzled by the messages and didn't know what they were referring to.

"I was pretty confused because I was relying on the fact that he told me he had gotten rid of them, maybe naive to think but that's exactly what he was telling me and I believed that, so more just shock and confusion and what exactly did she really have?" 

Court heard one message sent from Peters to Roque said: "So when you took all those photos and got involved with someone else's spouse, I bet you never imagined that the chief of police, deputy chiefs and who knows who else would be seeing those very same photos."

Peters first became suspicious of Roque when she saw a photo in Friesen's Hotmail account of Roque flexing her muscles in a mirror, an agreed statement of facts says.

In addition to the photo, the statement said the Hotmail account had about 100 other pictures — including some unclothed — of at least a dozen other women.

In February of 2017 after getting the password to the Hotmail account, Peters found images of Roque and other women in the trash folder. She forwarded them to herself and then called Brandon's deputy police chief, according to the statement of facts.

Feared images would be posted online

Roque wrote a letter to Brandon police to show she could still be a good candidate for the job.

"They were mistakes. I'm certainly not proud of those decisions I made as a young adult at 23," she told court.

"I wanted them to understand that although these are mistakes that I made these certainly aren't mistakes that would interfere with my ability to be a good cop and I really wanted to make that known to them before they made a decision."

In emotional testimony, Roque said the breach of trust has a profound impact on her life and made her suicidal. She said she was extremely fearful and anxious after the photos were shared and lost 15 pounds in three weeks.

"I wasn't eating. I wasn't sleeping and my whole world was tumbling."

Roque said she began to search porn sites online fearing the photos had been sent to the websites.

She testified that she worries her children could be one day bullied because of the images.

Under cross-examination from Peters' defence lawyer Rhea Majewski, Roque agreed she didn't expressly tell Friesen the photos were for his eyes only.

The trial continues Tuesday.