Pubdate: Wed, 05 Sep 2001
Source: Kitchener-Waterloo Record (CN ON)
Copyright: 2001 Kitchener-Waterloo Record
Contact:  http://www.therecord.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/225
Author: Francis Barrick

ACQUITTED RCMP OFFICER NO LONGER A MEMBER OF FORCE

A Kitchener RCMP officer acquitted in June of breach of trust is no longer 
a member of the force.

Const. Donald (Gregory) MacPhee was scheduled to appear for an internal 
disciplinary hearing on Aug. 27, but the hearing was cancelled, said Sgt. 
Mike Mason of the RCMP's internal affairs branch.

While federal privacy legislation prevents him from saying whether MacPhee 
has left the force, Mason said, "In general terms, any member who is no 
longer an employee of the RCMP is not answerable to the provisions of the 
RCMP Act and is not subject to a disciplinary hearing."

Asked if MacPhee is still subject to a disciplinary hearing, Mason said 
he's not.

But MacPhee's legal problems are far from over as the Crown is appealing 
his acquittal.

In June, Justice Ron Sills acquitted the 26-year police veteran of breach 
of trust saying there was no evidence the officer was feeding his 
girlfriend confidential police information about a major drug investigation 
in which she was a suspect.

The Crown is appealing that acquittal on grounds that the judge made errors 
in law in his legal interpretation of breach of trust.

No date has been set for the hearing to be held at the Ontario Court of 
Appeal in Toronto.

The 48-year-old officer had been suspended with pay since his arrest in 
April 1998.

The breach of trust charge related to allegations that MacPhee made close 
to 190 queries on two police computer systems from Nov. 1, 1998, to April 
21, 1999, which were not related to his job as a customs and excise officer.

Most of the queries related to Operation Joanna, a major drug investigation 
launched by the RCMP in New Brunswick in November 1998.

Some of the names MacPhee queried included his new girlfriend, Donna 
Leadbeater, who was a suspect in the drug investigation, and Pierre Daigle, 
a high-profile drug dealer who visited the Glace Bay, N.S., house 
Leadbeater shared with her then-husband Martin Marangoni.

MacPhee's defence was he made the queries on the police computer files to 
ensure his girlfriend didn't have a checkered past that could compromise 
both the force and his position as a police officer.
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MAP posted-by: Beth