OTTAWA -- An Ottawa police officer has pleaded guilty to five charges of uttering threats and assault relating to four different women.  

Const. Eric Post entered the guilty plea during a court appearance held virtually Thursday morning. 

Post, 49, had faced a total of 32 charges including assault, sexual assault, forcible confinement, criminal harassment and assault with a weapon.

According to an agreed statement of facts, all incidents relating to the charges Post pleaded guilty to occurred between 2013 and 2018. Some victims came forward to police after seeing media reports of his initial arrest.

Post met the victims on dating sites or dating apps. While none of the women knew each other, they reported similarities in how Post mistreated them.

The agreed statement of facts describes Post’s behaviour as “controlling” with him wanting to know where at least one of the victims “was at all times."

The document reveals that on a second date, Post told a victim “something to the effect that if she ever cheated on him he would throw her body in the river, and that he would get away with it because he is a police officer.” Post said he made the comment to intimidate the woman and “maintains he would not have ever actually acted on the threat.” 

During another date with a victim, “Mr. Post unexpectedly grabbed her by the throat / under the chin area, saying he did not know whether he wanted to choke her or kiss her,” the statement says.

Post says it was closer to the chin area but “concedes that his grabbing her at all and to any degree was unwarranted, was in incredibly bad judgment, that he did not ask her for her permission to touch her first, and that even while him hurting her or intimidating her was certainly not his intention, he accepts that he was too rough with her.” 

In another incident detailed in the document, Post grabbed a woman “by the neck in a tight grip and slapped her face.” Later on, when she texted him saying what happened was unacceptable, he texted back saying she was being “too sensitive.” 

After breaking things off with one victim, Post admitted to showing up at the woman’s workplace “in full police uniform, and with flowers in hand, in an effort to win her back. This shocked and frightened [the victim].” 

In another incident, Post, again in full uniform, yelled at a woman for hugging a man she knew in a public place.  

Post was described as someone who would get angry when the women involved would do things that didn’t involve him.  

The document details multiple incidents in which Post grabbed a victim’s wrists when she tried to leave after a verbal argument and in one incident threw keys at her. 

One victim who came forward to police said “Mr. Post was always trying to put the fear of God in her, and, as a big guy who often yelled, could be very scary.” 

Post’s trial had been scheduled to start in the next few weeks. 

In all, seven women came forward with allegations.

Post has been a member of the Ottawa Police Service for nearly two decades and is currently suspended. He remains out on bail and will be sentenced on April 1.

Ottawa police declined to comment on Const. Post's employment status or future with the force.

"The Ottawa Police Service will not comment until such time as the court process has concluded," a spokesperson said in a statement.