Pubdate: Sat, 20 Apr 2002 Source: Kingston Whig-Standard (CN ON) Copyright: 2002 The Kingston Whig-Standard Contact: http://www.kingstonwhigstandard.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/224 Author: Ian Elliot KP GUARD WHO SOLD COCAINE WON'T GET JOB BACK A Kingston Penitentiary guard fired for selling cocaine will not get his job back. Jamie Renaud's dismissal has been upheld by the tribunal that reviews public service grievances. Renaud was fired last May for selling drugs to other guards. Tribunal chairman Joe Potter, who last week reinstated a fired guard who had been snared by the same two-year undercover police probe of corruption at the prison, found that in this case the Correctional Service of Canada was justified in dismissing the employee. "I believe that trafficking in drugs by a correctional officer is a very serious act of misconduct and that termination of employment is an appropriate disciplinary response to such an act of misconduct in the absence of compelling mitigating factors," wrote Potter in a 12-page decision made public yesterday. Renaud, 29, is a guard with less than three years' service. Potter found that he had sold a gram of cocaine to a fellow guard and that the offence was serious enough to warrant firing, the two issues before him. "I believe the bond of trust between the grievor and his employer has indeed been broken in this situation and I can find no reason to modify the penalty, nor indeed was any offered at the hearing," he wrote. Renaud's lawyer, Angus MacLeod, called parts of the decision "quite alarming," although he said he had not yet been given instructions to apply for a judicial review of the ruling. Renaud, who has been suspended without pay, could not be reached for comment yesterday but his lawyer described him as being "puzzled and disappointed" by the ruling. Corrections spokeswoman Diane Russon said yesterday the government had no objections to Potter's findings. "We are reviewing the document but we are satisfied with the outcome," she said. The case, which was heard in Kingston in February, boiled down to the credibility of either side's witnesses. The chief witness against Renaud was Rick Noble, a fellow guard who admitted to being an alcoholic and drug addict. "This is a termination case where, like an onion, when all the layers are peeled away, we are left with a core issue," Potter explained. "In this instance, am I to believe Mr. Noble or Mr. Renaud? That is, in my view, the real case here." Noble is on stress leave suffering post-traumatic stress disorder after former guards put out a contract to have inmates attack him and fellow guards harassed and threatened him. As in the previous case, Potter said that a "rat code" among guards was used to try and stop guards from testifying against their fellow correctional officers. Then-warden Monty Bourke testified that the code stonewalled investigations at the prison and forced him to authorize a police investigation in 1998. Noble testified that other guards "put him on the dummy" and would not speak to him after they found out he had co-operated with the police investigation that saw eight guards fired and 40 warned about inappropriate conduct. Potter wrote that Noble was aware he was breaching the rat code when he talked to police and knew there would be consequences. Noble testified that he pulled his car over to the side of the road and cried after being interviewed by police as he knew other guards would turn on him. Potter said that awareness of the consequences gave his admission credibility. "Mr. Noble may be lying to save himself ... but this was at great personal expense," Potter concluded. "Mr. Noble was, I believe, well aware that to inform on a fellow correctional officer could attract retribution in some form from other correctional officers. "There is absolutely no question in my mind that a rat code was in existence at the time of this incident." While Potter found Noble to be "an extremely emotionally fragile individual," he believed that Noble had visited the apartment where the cocaine deal was alleged to have taken place. The apartment belonged to fellow guard Dallas Kropelin, although Noble initially identified it as belonging to Renaud. Noble testified that he bought a gram of cocaine from Renaud for between $80 and $100. Noble's description of the apartment matched descriptions given by Renaud and others, Potter said. But MacLeod, who launched a punishing cross-examination of Noble's credibility at the hearing, said that Potter "ignored quite dramatic evidence relating to the credibility of witnesses," including several incongruities and changes in Noble's testimony. He charged that if the government is going to accuse a guard of a criminal act, it needed a higher level of proof than it put forward at the hearing. Renaud vehemently denied ever using or selling drugs at the hearing. A number of character witnesses testified that they had never seen him with drugs or drug paraphernalia. Potter said there was no evidence to substantiate the other allegation levelled against Renaud. Renaud was accused of selling Dave Perkins a gram of cocaine in the parking lot of the Daisy Mart, a short distance from the prison, on the morning of June 29, 2000. Perkins, widely implicated in the corruption probe, and his wife Gail, who was also a guard, both killed themselves in December of 2000. The sole corroborating evidence came from a high-profile convict who was working with the police sting and who told police Perkins told him that the deal was completed. "The convenience store parking lot encounter, in my view, lacks compelling evidence for me to conclude that a drug deal took place," Potter determined. "No one saw an exchange of money or drugs and I can not conclude, on the basis of what I heard, that grounds for discipline exist with respect to this incident." Guard Gus Chenier, fired after returning a contraband bank card given to him by Perkins to the same high-profile inmate, was ordered reinstated by Potter in a judgment released last week. Six other fired guards will have their appeals heard over the next three months. - --- MAP posted-by: Beth