Two male real estate agents terminated effective immediately after allegations of sexual assault
Two Victoria real estate agents fired after online accusations of sexual assault
Louise Dickson
The Province
The Agency Victoria, a luxury real estate brokerage and lifestyle company, says it has terminated its relationship with two agents, effective immediately, after allegations of sexual assault. Photo by CHEK NEWS /Times Colonist
Warning: This story contains details of sexual assaults.
VICTORIA — Two male real estate agents were fired Thursday after women posted allegations of sexual assault on social media. Three women made the detailed allegations on the Vancouver Island Instagram account @survivorstoriesprojects.
“I want my story to be told because they have been continuing to do the same thing to girls and it needs to stop. I thought I was the only one but sadly that isn’t the case,” the first woman wrote in her anonymous online post.
The Agency Victoria, a luxury real estate brokerage and lifestyle company, responded to the allegations on its own Instagram account, saying it had terminated its relationship with the agents, effective immediately.
“As previously stated, we are aware of the very serious social media allegations towards two agents working under our brokerage. We want to be perfectly clear; we are shocked and deeply disturbed by the allegations … We stand in full support of women who have endured sexual abuse and we encourage anyone with information to come forward.”
The Local restaurant also responded to the allegations against one of the men, who is a minority partner. Owner Jeremy Petzing said he and the whole Local community were shaken by the allegation.
“The actions described are disturbing, disgusting and wrong. Our thoughts are first and foremost with the women who brought forward these allegations. Since learning about the accusations we have severed ties with the persons involved. They will not be welcome at The Local or Farmhouse.”
The first woman said the men are regular cocaine users who are part of an affluent circle in Victoria. They are known to send out multiple snap chats or messages to women in Victoria, inviting them to hang out or meet for drinks. The two men choose girls who are unlikely to come forward after an assault, the woman said.
One man always pretends to be alone. When the woman shows up at the agreed venue, his friend is with him. The two pay the bill when the woman arrives and say they are going to a new spot. But on their way to the next bar, they say they have to “pop into the office” quickly.
The woman said she was taken to a real estate office downtown. The men pulled out a bottle of wine and cocaine and said they wanted to do a few hits before moving on.
She became more and more intoxicated. She said she doesn’t do cocaine, and believes she was drugged. When she came to, the room was spinning. One of the men was performing oral sex on her, while the other was sitting on her face, she said.
The assault continued until she said she was going to be sick. She woke up by the toilet alone, rinsed her face and drank water from the faucet. She asked for her clothes and they left the office and put her in a cab.
When she protested, they told her nobody would believe her, she said.
The second woman wrote that she was 19 when she had a drink at the home of one of the men. They went into the bedroom, and then his friend showed up. The men started taking off her clothes and she told them to stop, but they told her to be quiet, she said.
She started to cry. She managed to get out of bed and locked herself in the bathroom. She was scared and didn’t know where she was.
“I decided to keep it a secret because I was terrified,” she wrote.
The two men showed up at her workplace the following Monday, she said. The woman wrote that she didn’t go out for some time because she was scared of running into them.
“I thought I was the only one, but sadly that wasn’t the case.”
The third woman wrote about making out with one of the men, and his roommate insisted on being part of it. The two men forcefully tried to take off her clothes and hid her purse so she couldn’t leave, she wrote.
Their behaviour was “predatorial and creepy to the point where I had to get aggressive and I remember grabbing my things as fast as I could and leaving,” she wrote.
© 2021 The Province