Former police commission chair pleads guilty to assault
By Jeremy Appel on November 20, 2018.
NEWS FILE PHOTO The Medicine Hat Provincial Courthouse is seen in this photo. A schizophrenic man who pled guilty to an assault that included throwing a paint canister at a woman’s head, was sentenced Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2019 to 150 days in jail.
jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel A former Medicine Hat Police Commission chair has pled guilty to assault causing bodily harm. Rolf Traichel, 45, made a quick appearance in Medicine Hat Provincial Court Monday, where he was sentenced to a one-year probation suspended sentence as part of a joint submission. According to an agreed statement of facts, Traichel broke a woman’s wrist on March 8, 2016. He sat on the police commission from 2012-17. The charge wasn’t filed until May 31 of this year. A Crown prosecutor from Lethbridge was assigned to the case, due to a potential conflict of interest with the Medicine Hat Crown. Traichel is also accused of defrauding the Medicine Hat Catholic Board of Education, where he worked as an IT consultant, to the tune of $1-million. Neither the Medicine Hat Police Service nor the MHCBE responded to request for comment by press time. At the time of his arrest for the alleged fraud, the MHCBE issued a statement confirming Traichel’s past employment with the board, declining further comment on a matter before the courts. The fraud accusations occurred between 2010 and 2016, also overlapping with his time on the police commission, although he isn’t suspected of any wrongdoing against the police. He was charged with fraud over $5,000, money laundering and possessing the proceeds of crime on Aug. 8 following a six-month investigation. Traichel’s next appearance on the fraud-related charges is scheduled for Dec. 4. 14
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