Skip to content
Join our Newsletter

Former northern B.C. mayor Luke Strimbold to be sentenced this coming week

The former Burns Lake mayor pleaded guilty to four counts of sexual assault on boys under 16 years old
luke strimbold
Former Mayor of Burns Lake, Luke Strimbold. (via the Canadian Press)

The youngest elected mayor of B.C. will be sentenced in a Smithers courtroom this coming Tuesday (Nov. 26) for four counts of sexual assault.

Strimbold pleaded guilty on May 5, 2019, to four counts of sexual assault involving four boys who were under the age of 16 at the time. 

He was elected mayor of Burns Lake in 2011 at the age of 21, which made him the youngest mayor ever of a city in British Columbia. 

A special prosecutor had previously approved 29 charges against Strimbold, including sexual interference and invitation to sexual touching, that were alleged to have involved six people. The remaining 25 stayed.

An indictment shows the assaults that Strimbold pleaded guilty to are said to have happened between May of 2014 and August 2017. 

A pre-sentencing report and a psychological assessment were ordered. 

Strimbold was originally scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 23, 2019, but the date was moved due to court scheduling issues.

The case was moved from courts in Burns Lake in April of 2018 to Smithers.

- With files from Kyle Balzer, PrinceGeorgeMatters and The Canadian Press