Jessica Yaniv Simpson, who once declared themselves “not a criminal”, is scheduled in court today, October 6, 2022, for arraignment hearings on four separate criminal charges stemming from two separate events in 2021 and 2022.
On June 9, 2022, Yaniv was charged with Publishing Defamatory Libel in relation to events in February 2021, when Yaniv (allegedly) accused RCMP officer Mike Gafka of beating up Miriam Yaniv (Yaniv’s “mother”) and Ilana Altman (Yaniv’s probably “mother”). Yaniv went on to post pictures of Gafka’s family across his social media pages. Yaniv later filed a lawsuit against Gafka and various law enforcement-related branches of the government. This civil case is dead in the water.
Yaniv is also facing three charges from an event that occurred at Miriam’s strata. JY and Miriam had been creating problems for the strata residents, including filing civil and human rights complaints and waving them at residents to intimidate them. Much of the drama was related to JY’s fake service dog, and then Miriam’s (actually JY’s) attempt to brand Miriam’s dog as a service animal too.
Yaniv is charged with assault, because he allegedly assaulted a senior citizen during a strata council meeting. When this didn’t go well for Yaniv, he allegedly pulled the buildings fire alarm (keep in mind this is a seniors building and this was in the evening, after many residents had likely settled for the night), causing emergency services to attend. When police arrived, Yaniv allegedly accused the residents of instigating events and assaulting him. Police charged him with reporting an offense committed when it was not. Yaniv was banned from the residence part of the building. Since Yaniv’s ban, residents in the building have reported that Miriam has calmed down and peace has returned to the building.
Interestingly, court records indicate Yaniv is represented by Patrick Johnston for the three strata-related charged, and Natasha Brar for the defamatory libel charge.
Yaniv has been charged with six previous offenses that unfolded as follows:
- 2x Possession of illegal weapons – guilty, conditional discharge, probation.
- Uttering Threats to Cause death – guilty, suspended sentence, probation.
- 2x Public Mischief – stayed
- Assault – guilty, conditional discharge #2, probation.
Given Yaniv’s history, and the fact that he’s already received two conditional discharges, it’s a virtual impossibility that Yaniv would receive a third conditional discharge. I also suspect that, considering the defamation charges took over a year to file, that Crown has a very strong case built against Yaniv, while Yaniv has absolutely no evidence to suggest his accusations against Gafka were true (which would be a defense against a libel charge). If found guilty, imprisonment is possible but unlikely.
Regarding the three strata charges, I predict the BC Crown will offer some sort of deal in exchange for a guilty plea, likely dropping the false report charge, and maybe the fire alarm charge, in exchange for a guilty please for assault. This would be Yaniv’s second assault conviction though, so it’d hard to say.
Some on the MeowMix team think the Crown may take these more seriously, considering a fire alarm in a seniors building is a high risk event, and Yaniv is accused of beating up a senior. Others suspect the historically soft BC Crown will make a deal for more probation. Personally. I don’t believe jail time is on the table, but I would gladly eat my words on this one.
MeowMix will provide updates below as events occur. Yaniv will have the charges read to him today, and he is expected to enter a plea. If he pleads guilty, hearings will be scheduled for later dates for sentencing. If he pleads not guilty, there will be scheduling hearings scheduled (roll your eyes…) and a trial set for later, likely mid-2023.
Update 1: Coming soon.
JY was represented today by Ervin Ariaee on behalf of Natasha Brar (and possibly Patrick Johnston).
The defamation matter is being set aside at the request of Crown Counsel to research some Charter matters and how they apply to the case. A hearing has been scheduled for October 18, 9 am to schedule another date.
With regards to the strata-related charges, JY has elected to go to trial, requesting 3.5 days for this to happen. This will go to the judicial case managers on Oct 11 at 1:30 pm for a pre-trial conference, and a date set after that.
