Pubdate: Thu, 23 Nov 2000 Source: Globe and Mail (Canada) Copyright: 2000, The Globe and Mail Company Contact: http://www.globeandmail.ca/ Forum: http://forums.theglobeandmail.com/ Author: Colin Freeze, Police Reporter POLICE OFFICERS FACE FRAUD, THEFT CHARGES TORONTO -- Eight Toronto Police officers were criminally charged last night in a "theft scheme" that involved misappropriation of money earmarked for investigations while they were part of a downtown drug unit. A sombre police Chief Julian Fantino announced the charges last night, the second time this year a group of experienced officers has been charged with misappropriating funds while on duty. The officers charged all have more than 10 years experience with the force. They have been suspended with pay. All have been charged with theft, fraud, forgery and breach of trust. Chief Fantino would not say how much money is alleged to be missing. He said the officers will also face disciplinary charges -- 98 in total. In announcing the charges, Chief Fantino said that "honesty and integrity are non-negotiable" requirements for his police officers. Since being appointed earlier this year, Chief Fantino has repeatedly said that he won't accept any disciplinary transgressions by his officers. In April, five officers from a high-profile squad that hunts down parole violators and prison escapees were charged with misappropriating about $5,000 in cash intended for informants. To uncover the charges announced yesterday, an internal audit looked at the period between December, 1997 and December, 1998. Chief Fantino didn't get into specifics, but described a careful investigation that involved a force probing its own members. "Throughout this investigation, there was consultation and input ongoing with the Crown's office and there was a great deal of dialogue with the conduct of the investigation as it progressed," he said. He said "appropriate authorities" at the Department of Justice and at the Attorney-General's office were notified and kept informed of the progress of the investigation. "Regrettably, it's come to this unhappy conclusion," Chief Fantino. He said he did not know whether any of the funds have been recovered. Charged last night were constables Sean McGuinness, James Leslie, Joseph Miched, Jaroslaw Cieslik, Jonathan Reid and Raymond Pollard. Detective Constable Steven Correia and Staff Sergeant John Schertzer were also charged yesterday. Several of the officers have made the headlines before. In 1998, Staff Sgt. Schertzer, Det. Constable Correia and constables Reid and Miched were among officers named in a case in which a Toronto police-complaint investigator found that two men were unjustly detained, strip-searched and had their homes searched in October of 1997, without police obtaining a warrant. A ruling found that charges of discreditable conduct were warranted against the officers, but a police-force adjudicator dismissed the complaint on a time-limit technicality. But some of the officers charged have also been in the news for their good deeds as well. Constable McGuinness discovered a hydroponic lab under a bogus drycleaning shop this June. Constable Leslie was fired at in a standoff with a depressed man who eventually killed himself in 1991. He also rescued eight tenants from a burning rooming house in 1990. Staff Sgt. Schertzer was involved in a high-profile, $1-million drug bust, when three suspects were found with a knapsack full of cocaine in the back of a cab. The charged officers will appear in court in January. - --- MAP posted-by: Richard Lake