Former Canadian Football League running back Jerome Messam has allegedly been charged with sexual assault, according to Toronto Sun reporter Bryan Passifiume.
Passifiume reports: Jerome Messam, 35, of Pickering, turned himself in Monday morning to Toronto Police and was to make his first appearance in College Park court. Details of the allegations were not immediately available. The Sun has reached out to lawyer Gavin Holder’s office for comment, and Messam’s charges have not been proven in court.
While with the Saskatchewan Roughriders in 2018, Messam was charged with voyeurism stemming from an incident in November 2016. The CFL issued a statement about the pending charge.
“The Canadian Football League is aware that Jerome Messam has been charged with voyeurism, a Criminal Code offence. He has been released by the Saskatchewan Roughriders. Commissioner Randy Ambrosie has informed all member clubs that the league will not register a contract for Messam should any team attempt to sign him. We will have no further comment on this matter as it is before the courts.”
Under the Criminal Code, voyeurism is when someone “surreptitiously, observes – including by mechanical or electronic means – or makes a visual recording of a person who is in circumstances that give rise to a reasonable expectation of privacy.” The Criminal Code also covers distributing recordings from such offences. Punishment is up to five years in prison.
Messam was a Calgary Stampeder in 2016 and a Calgary Police spokeswoman said the charge “relates to the alleged video-taping of a consensual sexual encounter with a victim. It is alleged the video-taping was done without the person’s consent.”
The adult complainant came to police in April 2018 after being told Messam had the alleged tape, which police said had not been posted anywhere.
Messam was signed as a free agent by the Riders in February 2018. The six-foot-three, 230-pound back rushed 52 times for 205 yards and caught six passes for 25 yards in six games for Saskatchewan in 2018.
Messam had a career-best campaign in 2016 when the alleged voyeurism incident happened, rushing for 1,198 yards and 11 touchdowns while catching 54 balls for 485 yards and one TD, all of those numbers are single-season highs. That year he earned the CFL’s Most Outstanding Canadian award.
Over his eight-year CFL career, Messam has rushed for 5,689 yards and 34 touchdowns while adding 2,022 receiving yards and two touchdowns on 225 receptions.
