Pubdate: Tue, 04 Jun 2013 Source: Toronto Star (CN ON) Copyright: 2013 The Toronto Star Contact: http://www.thestar.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456 Author: Tony Van Alphen CROWN DROPS DRUG TRAFFICKING CHARGE AGAINST DURHAM COP Fraud case also abandoned in probe, but breach of trust allegations remain against Const. Tara Kramp. Prosecutors have dropped drug trafficking and fraud charges against a veteran Durham regional police officer who still faces other allegations in a major bust last year. Federal prosecutor Moiz Rahman confirmed Tuesday that the Crown had withdrawn a charge of trafficking against Const. Tara Kramp of Oshawa but no reasons were given for the move. Rahman added the Crown had also dropped a charge against Kramp of defrauding Durham regional police of less than $5,000 by deceit, falsehood or by other means. Police had charged Cramp, 39, and four other individuals in June last year with conspiracy to traffic various unidentified drugs. But allegations against other individuals in the bust named cocaine, ecstasy and Oxycodone as drugs in their possession or they used for trafficking purposes. With the aid of other forces, Durham police charged more than two dozen people in a drug investigation dubbed "Project Lodestar." Officers seized more than $800,000 in cash, guns, vehicles and $300,000 in drugs. Police also charged Kramp, a former fitness and bodybuilding buff, with breach of trust for allegedly providing "sensitive" police information to an unidentified party. And police said she did "wilfully attempt to obstruct, pervert or defeat the course of justice," by providing information to another defendant, Jeremy Russell of Clarington. Furthermore, police charged her with possessing Durham force property obtained by crime and four counts of improper storage of firearms in her residence. A justice of the peace granted Kramp's release on $20,000 bail with several conditions including making no contact with about a dozen other defendants. Police suspended Kramp, a 14-year member of the force, with pay until the resolution of her case. Preliminary hearings affecting numerous defendants are continuing under a publication ban on evidence. - --- MAP posted-by: Matt