An investigation into an Ottawa police sergeant accused by former college students of sexual misconduct ended when he died in March, leaving unresolved questions about why a formal criminal probe began only years after the allegations first surfaced.
CBC News reported that Robert “Bobby” Cleroux, an acting staff sergeant with the Ottawa Police Service’s south district, was suspended with pay in January and was investigated first by Ottawa police and later by Ontario Provincial Police for what Ottawa police described as “off-duty misconduct.” Cleroux had not been charged. The investigation ended after his March 6 death.
Why the timing is under scrutiny
The allegations centred on two former students in Collège La Cité’s police foundations program. They told CBC that Cleroux sexually harassed and sexually assaulted them while supervising their police-work simulations in late 2021.
According to sources cited by CBC, the recent investigation was triggered not by the original college reports, but by a 2023 social media warning about Cleroux written by one of the students he had supervised. The post was brought to Ottawa police leadership five months ago, CBC reported, as word spread inside the force that Cleroux was about to be promoted.
The former student, identified by CBC only as “L,” said she posted the anonymous warning on a Facebook page used by Ottawa-area women in May 2023, then removed it after a screengrab began circulating among officers. She later told CBC that Cleroux called her in distress on Nov. 11, 2025, saying a colleague had taken the screengrab to police leadership because that colleague was jealous of his expected promotion. CBC said it could not independently verify which officer or officers came forward, what they provided, or their motivations.
“Sexual assault shouldn’t be used as blackmail to get a position,” L told CBC, saying the allegations should have been dealt with when officers first saw the post, not when it became useful to someone else. Ottawa police said they would not respond to assumptions or speculation about the motivations of anyone who reported Cleroux’s behaviour.
Earlier reports to the college
L told CBC she asked a trusted teacher in early 2022 to be moved out of Cleroux’s supervision. After she explained why, she said, the matter was referred within La Cité. CBC reported seeing an email from Dominique Germain, director of the college’s emergency and judicial services institute, setting up a meeting with L and another student.
L said she later gave the college a USB drive containing about 75 screengrabs of messages between her and Cleroux. La Cité’s sexual violence protocol at the time said survivors had the right to decide whether to report incidents to police, though the college could report without consent in some circumstances, including when the safety of others in the college community was threatened.
La Cité has repeatedly declined to confirm whether Cleroux worked at the college, citing human resources policy and Ontario law, CBC reported. Algonquin College, which also runs a police foundations program, told CBC that Cleroux never worked or volunteered there.
What remains unanswered
Ottawa police Chief Eric Stubbs, approached by CBC at Ottawa City Hall in March, said the allegations would never be fully sorted out because Cleroux’s death ended the investigation. He also suggested some information provided to CBC was inaccurate, without specifying what, and said the force takes allegations seriously.
Ottawa police did not answer CBC’s repeated questions about whether Cleroux had been under any form of investigation before last fall. The force said only that his January suspension was his first, and referred questions about the investigation to the OPP. The OPP said it was working with the coroner on a review of Cleroux’s death and could not provide details.
The unanswered question is now less about the criminal case, which ended with Cleroux’s death, than about the institutional record: what Ottawa police and La Cité knew in early 2022 and after the 2023 social media post, and why the matter did not become a police investigation until Cleroux’s promotion was apparently in view.
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