French prosecutor says police discovered text messages between Canada Soccer analyst and team assistant coach

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Police investigating reports of a drone circling the pitch at a New Zealand women’s soccer team Olympic practice on Monday saw the miniature aircraft descend toward its pilot, a Canada Soccer analyst positioned just outside the stadium, the local prosecutor said.

The analyst, Joseph Lombardi, was subsequently arrested on a charge of maintaining an unmanned aircraft over a prohibited area. Lombardi admitted to the offence and agreed to an eight-month suspended sentence.

An assistant coach from the Canadian national team, Jasmine Mander, became involved in the investigation after police discovered text messages between her and Lombardi, prosecutor David Charmatz told The Globe.

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Mr. Charmatz said the messages didn’t show that Mander was involved in the scheme to use the drone, however they revealed she had some knowledge of the analyst’s activities that day.

“She knew he was looking at the New Zealand team,” Charmatz said, adding that police concluded she was not an accomplice in the use of the drone.

Mr. Charmatz said there was no evidence on Lombardi’s phone that Canada’s head coach, Bev Priestman, was aware of the plans, so she was not interviewed by police.

Investigators also searched Lombardi’s hotel room and seized his computer equipment. That’s when they discovered additional footage from a previous New Zealand practice held on July 20, Charmatz told The Globe in a statement Wednesday. Lombardi told officials he used the videos to learn the opposing team’s strategy.

Three years ago, the Canadian women’s team became an enduring story from the Tokyo Games, after the squad bested Sweden in the gold-medal round – Team Canada’s first-ever gold in soccer.

In Paris, the Canadian women had hoped to defend their title, but instead, they’ve become embroiled in a cheating scandal that has rocked the soccer world and garnered international attention.

After news of the drone spying broke Wednesday, FIFA announced it was investigating three Canada Soccer staff members – Lombardi, Mander and Priestman – over potential violations of its disciplinary code. In a statement, Canada Soccer said it too would launch an independent review of the incident, as well as a wider probe of competitive culture within the sport.

Lombardi was convicted under a French law that allows the accused, after being held for 48 hours, to appear in front of a prosecutor, where a plea bargain is arranged. After a deal is agreed to by both the prosecution and the accused and their lawyer, it is presented to a judge, Charmatz said.

Both Lombardi and Mander have been sent home from France, though Charmatz said the analyst left at the request of the Canadian Olympic Committee, not the French government, because the gravity of the crime was not serious enough to require such a measure.

“This isn’t espionage – the question of sports espionage – it’s a question that doesn’t exist in the French penal code. It’s a question that concerns international sports federations, and the Canadian Olympic Committee, [the Olympic Committee] of New Zealand and the IOC,” Charmatz said.

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Priestman volunteered to sit out from Team Canada’s first game Thursday, which was against New Zealand. At this point, it appears she will resume her position for their second match.

Charmatz said Lombardi was remorseful when he was arrested and interviewed.

“He said he regretted this, he took full responsibility and said immediately it was a personal initiative.”