Local cop to enter plea Feb. 10 over witness tampering charge

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on January 31, 2026.

Medicine Hat police officer Noel Darr is scheduled to enter a plea in February in his witness tampering case.

The allegations against Darr accuse him of unlawfully attempting to “obstruct, pervert, or defeat the course of justice” by dissuading a witness from giving evidence by “threats, bribes, or other corrupt means,” according to court documents. Darr was charged by Edmonton police in July 2025.

According to releases from both the Medicine Hat Police Service and the Edmonton Police Service, the investigation was initiated following the receipt of complaints from a former MHPS employee.

Darr is also a defendant in a lawsuit filed by former MHPS police chief Mike Warden in March 2024.

Worden’s lawsuit identified three MHPS officers and a local woman with whom he had a “consensual sexual relationship,” accusing defendants of attempting to blackmail Worden into resignation and conspiring in a campaign to damage his professional reputation.

According to the statement of claim, former MHPS Insp. Brent Secondiak informed Worden in Mar. 2022 that several MHPS employees had obtained sexual messages exchanged between Worden and the local woman, Sashia Stiere, and that they intended to report the messages to the police commission unless Worden resigned.

Worden subsequently informed the commission of the alleged blackmail attempt.

Documents included in the filing describe Worden’s sexual preferences as including “consensual non-consent.”

The woman, Sashia Stiere, is the only of the three defendants to issue a statement of defence.

Stiere denies her conduct or actions were wrongful, and that “Worden’s actions and conduct alone” resulted in his humiliation and reputational damage.

She also alleges Worden asked her to delete messages and some communications between the two and later to provide false information to a potential employment standards investigation.

Worden denies in his statement of claim that he gave any such direction.

Stiere was also engaged in a consensual sexual relationship with Darr on several occasions in 2005 and 2006, and the two remained acquainted up to and including May 2022.

Worden ultimately resigned as MHPS chief in May 2022. Although the stated reason at the time of his resignation was “personal and family reasons,” his lawsuit argues his resignation was “effectively forced” as a result of severe damage to his reputation.

The investigation that yielded Darr’s criminal charge is expected to be related to the conflict which is the subject of Worden’s lawsuit.

Two local journalists were also implicated. The statement of claim states that Secondiak informed Darr of a harassment complaint lodged by one reporter against Worden that was later proven to be false.

Another local reporter was allegedly approached by Darr with false information.

Worden also says the MHPS did not do enough to mitigate the damage caused by the media reports and states the named officers shared social media posts implicating him as a “bad cop.”

He is seeking $250,000 in damages for reputational and personal injury, $560,000 for loss of past and future income related to his local contract and a further $1 million for the loss of future income, as well as $40,000 for various other costs.

Neither the civil nor criminal allegations have been proven in a court of law.

Darr will appear at the Medicine Hat Court of Justice on Feb. 10 to enter a plea.