A 30-year-old woman charged in multiple incidents of Lower Mainland men being drugged and robbed during escort-service encounters has been ordered to remain on house arrest while awaiting trial.
Jessica Nicole Renee Kane, 30, was in Vancouver provincial court Monday.
She was charged in September 2022 with manslaughter, seven counts of administering a stupefying or overpowering drug or substance, six counts of theft over $5,000, one count of theft, four counts of fraud and two counts of extortion.
The charges stemmed from incidents in Burnaby, Surrey, Langley and Vancouver that involved men using an escort service, according to police.
In February 2021, one man died after allegedly being administered a substance during an encounter, police said.
One pair of drugging and theft-over-$5,000 charges is related to an incident in Burnaby on June 19, 2022, according to court records.
Kane was released on bail on Oct. 27, 2022 with conditions banning her from sex work and from contacting nine named individuals.
On Jan. 9, 2023, however, she was taken back into custody by Vancouver police and charged in another alleged drugging and robbery on Jan. 8, in Vancouver.
She also faces charges of obstruction and breaching a release order out of Surrey connected to unrelated incidents on Jan. 3, according to Court Services Online.
On Monday, B.C. provincial court Judge James Sutherland released Kane again, this time on house arrest with a $20,000 cash deposit.
During her release, Kane will have to stay inside her home 24 hours a day, seven days a week, except on Fridays between noon and 2 p.m. for obtaining groceries and other necessaries.
On bail, Kane is also banned from sex work, employment that requires her to be inside another person's private residence, possessing drugs or drug paraphernalia unless they've been prescribed to her, contacting her alleged victims and possessing any identification or financial information that isn't her own.
Sutherland's reasons for the decision and all information presented at the bail hearing are protected by a publication ban.
Kane's next court date is set for March 9 in Surrey.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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