Franck Gervais, 32, has been charged with unlawful use of a military uniform and decoration. Photo: Andrew Duffy/Ottawa Citizen Ottawa police announced Saturday that they had arrested and charged an alleged soldier impostor, seen speaking on national television during last week’s monumental Remembrance Day ceremonies, with four criminal offences relating to impersonating an officer.
Franck Gervais, 32, of Cantley, Que. — a town north of Gatineau — has been charged under Section 130 of the Criminal Code with impersonating a public officer and misleading use of a badge or uniform. He’s also been charged under Section 419 with unlawful use of a military uniform and decoration.
The maximum sentence for someone found guilty of impersonating a public officer is five years in prison. Unlawfully using a military uniform carries a smaller sentence, which can include fines or a shorter prison term.
Gervais, who was interviewed by the CBC on Nov. 11 at the National War Memorial in full military uniform, turned himself in to police Saturday afternoon and was arrested, charged and released on an undertaking to appear in court on Dec. 9.
Ottawa police spokesman Const. Chuck Benoit said the investigation into Gervais “is still very fresh.”
“It’s a national attention story, so there are a lot of different angles” for investigators to explore, Benoit said. “They still have unresolved questions.”
He said investigators are “working closely” with the Canadian military to learn the history of every decoration and insignia Gervais wore. He was unable to provide details, but Benoit said Ottawa police could still lay more charges in the case.
Gervais had been laying low since a firestorm erupted over his activities last week. He originally contacted police to say he would appear at the Elgin Street headquarters before 4 p.m. Friday. Benoit said investigators had been in touch with Gervais since Thursday, trying to set up a time to speak with him. They ended up arranging a meeting for Saturday, Benoit said.
Gervais, who was interviewed wearing a bogus uniform of a Royal Canadian Regiment sergeant with a host of medals and decorations, works for an Ottawa construction company and lives in a modest home in Cantley, about 40 minutes north of Ottawa.
On Thursday, an SUV with a Support our Troops sticker was parked in the driveway. A woman who answered the door and identified herself as Gervais’s wife declined to talk to the Citizen. The couple, who according to media reports have been receiving death threats, were expected to issue a statement on Friday. They never did.
A spokeswoman for the company, who gave only her first name, Chantal, said Gervais had worked there for about 10 years and was a good employee.
“We don’t really have anything to say because we don’t know what they do on their own time,” she said. “It’s personal.”
Questions about Gervais arose almost immediately after he was interviewed by CBC reporter Diana Swain during live coverage of the Nov. 11 ceremony.
Warrant Officer Michael Womack, an RCR member posted to a training unit at Garrison Wainwright in Alberta, took to social media to spread the word, and the Department of National Defence has confirmed it has no record of a Franck Gervais ever serving in the Canadian military.
Among the anomalies Womack spotted were Gervais’s ill-fitting beret, crooked collar insignia, improper tunic buttons, outdated brigade insignia and his rare and hard-to-earn Pathfinders Torch. Gervais wasn’t wearing the red sash that non-commissioned officers wear with their dress uniform, and he wore non-regulation transitional sunglasses and a non-regulation beard.
Gervais also wore a chest full of medals, including the Governor General’s Bravery Medal and one for service in Kosovo.
He bought the RCR insignia on the website Kijiji. The seller, who confirmed to the Citizen that Gervais was the buyer, posted the ad on Nov. 7 offering a “100% authentic” selection of RCR badges and ranks, including a “ninja star” cap badge, shoulder patches and shoulder slip-ons, and “beaver” collar dogs. The ad was taken down Thursday morning.
Soldiers are allowed to sell their insignia, Womack said.
“It happens. It’s not something I would do, but they’re yours. Everything that got sold to him is purchased by a member when he joins a unit, and yes, he can sell it.”
However, there is another section of the Criminal Code — under which Gervais has not been charged — that states that anyone “who buys, receives or detains” military property belonging to the Crown from a current member of the Canadian Forces, a deserter or an unauthorized absentee can face up to five years in prison.
Other photos of Gervais’s Facebook page, since taken down, show him in a dress uniform at what appears to be a wedding. He is shown wearing the insignia of the Regiment de Hull and a 34 Brigade arm flash, sergeant stripes and an NCO’s red sash but over the wrong shoulder. He also is wearing a gold braid called an aiguillette on his right chest, something only an officer is entitled to do.
Womack said that Gervais’s uniform might fool the public, but it would never fool a soldier. He wouldn’t speculate on why Gervais chose to wear a uniform to Remembrance Day.
“My impression (is) he does respect what we do and in his own bizarre way he wants to emulate it. But, sorry, no. It’s wrong.”
Hundreds of comments have poured in since the Citizen’s story about Gervais was published. Readers have described his actions as an insult to the military and raised security concerns about the possibility that someone was posing as a soldier. It is “disgraceful for someone to impersonate a soldier on the day that we honour the real men and woman of this country who fought so that we can have the freedom that we enjoy,” one reader wrote.
A user on imgur, a photo-sharing website, seems to have even created parody photos out of Gervais’ case by cropping his head onto historic pictures and paintings. The user, who goes by jpl77, has placed Gervais’ head on the body of a painted Napoleon and the neck of the sergeant major from 1964′s British military film, Zulu, apparently mocking Gervais’ alleged attempt to pose as a non-commissioned officer.
In a statement released Thursday afternoon, the Department of National Defence said members of the Canadian Armed Forces “take great pride in wearing their uniforms” and that posing as a soldier is “a disservice to the proud men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces, who earn the right to wear their uniforms for the hard work and sacrifices made for our country.”
It added, however, that it “cannot comment on the specific case as the investigation is ongoing.”
Benoit said Gervais’ case has received attention from across the country, and sparked “a lot of opinions, a lot of anger” from the public.
“The investigators are working hard,” he said, asking for the public’s patience. “I know there’s a lot of angry people.”
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