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RCMP Probes Corruption On Toronto Police Force
Pubdate: Thu, 16 Aug 2001
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2001 The Toronto Star
Contact: http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Authors: Jennifer Quinn, John Duncanson and Jim Rankin -STAFF REPORTERS
RCMP PROBES CORRUPTION ON TORONTO POLICE FORCE
Senior Mountie Heads Inquiries Into Disgraced Drug Squad
Team Of 20 Officers Investigates Allegations Of Perjury
Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino has called in the Mounties to head a
probe into allegations of perjury and theft in an ever-widening police
corruption scandal that has plagued the force for years.
Calling the investigation a "sad passage in the history of the Toronto
Police Service," Fantino said yesterday that "significant numbers" of
criminal cases - including ones currently before the courts and those that
have already been closed - could be affected by the investigation. The
exact number is unknown, but Toronto police drug squads investigate
hundreds of cases each year.
This huge probe is an offshoot of the investigation of allegations of theft
from the force's so-called "fink fund" - a reserve of cash used to pay off
informants for information. That investigation, which is examining cases as
far back as 1997, has already resulted in dozens of charges laid against 13
officers, eight of whom are former members of the troubled Central Field
Command drug squad. Two other former drug squad officers face criminal
charges in matters separate from the "fink fund" investigation.
The expanded internal probe, headed by a senior RCMP officer, deals with
allegations of perjury, a difficult charge to prove and potentially
extremely damaging to the force's reputation. Sources say police
investigators suspect officers lied in order to snare drug suspects, and in
some cases, allegedly pocketed money belonging to dealers.
The effects of the widening probe are already being felt in the courts,
with one man - whose name is protected by a publication ban - being
released from prison last month after the crown conceded there had been a
"miscarriage of justice."
In that case, court documents obtained by The Star show a drug squad
officer, who is currently facing criminal charges, was involved in the
investigation.
"I can't undo what has happened here," Fantino said.
"But I certainly can't sit back and not do all that I can, and should, and
must, to deal with the issues for what they are, and delve into why these
things have happened, how they have happened, and ensure that we put in
place the safeguards to make sure these things don't repeat themselves."
A team of about 20 city police officers under a senior RCMP officer has
been assigned to the case, sources say. The team has been working out of an
office in an undisclosed location, outside of police headquarters at Bay
and College Sts.
Fantino confirmed the RCMP involvement yesterday after a call from The Star.
Saying the investigation could affect a "significant" number of drug cases,
Fantino said the team had been assigned to clean up the force's
scandal-ridden drug squad.
Fantino would not discuss details of the expanded investigation but said it
included allegations of perjury.
According to sources, in some of the cases being examined, officers were
sending drug users to buy drugs from targeted dealers. The officers were
then allegedly swearing out search warrants using information from the drug
users, but claiming instead that the information had come from a different
source, an informant.
The identity of informants is routinely protected in court, which means
defence lawyers are unable to ask them questions.
Toronto police began looking into alleged theft of informant money about
two years ago after accounting irregularities were discovered in a routine
audit. Former chief David Boothby ordered a deeper investigation.
More than 50 ongoing drug cases have unravelled since December, 1999, due
to the involvement of witness officers considered tainted because of
criminal charges or ongoing internal investigations, papers filed in court
have indicated. More than 80 people accused of drug crimes have walked free
in those cases.
In April, 2000, internal affairs charged five officers - Detective Rod
Lawrence, Detective Constable Gary Corbett, constables Gordon Ramsay, Wayne
Frye and Rick Franklin - with skimming money from the fund. Two (Lawrence
and Corbett) were members of the force's elite repeat offender program
enforcement unit.
Then, cases involving a number of drug squad officers began to mysteriously
unravel, with crown attorneys staying charges without explanation. It was
Fantino who delivered the stunning news in November that eight more
officers - all former members of Central Field Command drug squad - had
been charged in connection with the informant money probe.
That case - involving charges of theft, fraud and forgery against Staff
Sergeant John Schertzer, Detective Constable Steven Correia, and Constables
Sean McGuinness, James Leslie, Jonathan Reid, Raymond Pollard, Jaroslaw
Cieslik and Joseph Miched - is before the courts.
As the cases against the 13 officers charged in the so-called "fink fund"
scandal slowly wind their way through the courts, Toronto police internal
affairs investigators, overseen for the past few weeks by the RCMP, have
been busy reviewing more cases, poring over court transcripts and other
police paperwork.
Two other former drug squad members also face criminal charges. Constable
Mark Denton was charged in November, 1999 with possession of hashish for
the purpose of trafficking. In June, 2001, Constable Gregory Forestall was
charged with perjury in connection with an allegation that a justice of the
peace was given incorrect information for a search warrant in a 1998 drug case.
Investigators have also been examining closed cases, where convicted people
are doing time in prison based on the work and testimony of certain drug
squad officers.
Last month, a Toronto man convicted of possessing heroin was freed from
prison after a secret police affidavit brought forward fresh evidence.
While much secrecy surrounds the reasons why the case unravelled, The Star
has learned that a Toronto police officer facing criminal charges was
central to the investigation.
Court documents from the man's original trial file show the officer in
charge of exhibits in the case was Constable Joseph Miched, one of the
eight former Central Field Command drug squad officers who face theft,
fraud and forgery charges in connection with the "fink fund" scandal.
The convicted man, whose name is protected by a publication ban, was
serving the 18th month of a 45-month term at a penitentiary in Kingston
before he was freed last month.
A secret affidavit, sworn July 5 by Toronto internal affairs Detective
Sergeant Randy Franks, landed before the Ontario Court of Appeal July 13.
It contained fresh evidence and has been ordered sealed.
The appeal was granted and the charges stayed.
The man, who had pleaded guilty to possessing heroin and was described as
an addict and a drug mule, walked free.
The court noted that it had recently come to the attention of the federal
crown that the man's conviction "occasioned a miscarriage of justice."
The contents of the affidavit, the court said, "fully justify the crown's
position" to stay proceedings against the man.
A stay means the crown may try a case at a later date, but it must do so
within a year.
It also means an accused walks free and any money seized as proceeds of
crime must be returned. In some of the cases, the accused were considered
flight risks and had been held in jail awaiting trial. They, too, walked free.
None of the stayed drug cases has yet been reactivated.
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