Pubdate: Fri, 21 Aug 2009
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2009 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Bob Mitchell
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?236 (Corruption - Outside U.S.)

COOK WANTED OFFICERS TO CLEAR HIS NAME, COURT HEARS

A veteran Peel Police officer, accused of stealing fake cocaine from 
a botched RCMP drug sting, wanted the two officers who knew the truth 
to come forward to clear his name.

Cst. Sheldon Cook said the media labelled him a drug trafficker after 
his arrest on Nov. 18, 2005 for conspiracy to import cocaine.

"They had me on the same level as Pablo Escobar...," Cook told a 
Brampton court today. "... there wasn't one spec of cocaine found at my house."

Cook today told federal prosecutor David Rowcliffe that he hired a 
private investigator because neither Det. Marty Rykhoff nor Act. Det. 
Warren Williams would tell authorities about the box of dummy cocaine 
in his police cruiser in the early hours of Nov. 17, 2005.

"These were the only two people who had knowledge of the box," Cook 
said during his fifth and final day testifying in his own defence. 
"The heart of the matter is that I went out and hired a private 
investigator. I knew what the truth was. I wasn't afraid of what he 
would uncover."

Cook, 40, has pleaded not guilty to seven criminal charges in this 
judge alone trial before Justice Casey Hill that has been under way 
since last November.

He maintains he was told to take the dummy drugs home and return them 
to morality the following day. But before that could happen a GPS 
unit hidden inside the packages led the RCMP to his Cambridge home 
where 15 bricks (packages) were found in his garage inside a 
compartment of a water craft.

Rowcliffe and fellow prosecutor Ania Weiler say Cook took the drugs, 
which they say he thought were real - not fake - during his 
involvement as part of Rykhoff's crew investigating the seizure of 
102 bricks of suspected cocaine from a courier truck.

The white powder turned out to be flour, part of a mistake-filled 
RCMP controlled delivery from Peru to Canada that went missing 12 
hours earlier after arriving at Pearson International Airport.

Rowcliffe suggested Cook took advantage of the RCMP's blundering and 
saw an opportunity to "score" what he thought was real cocaine and 
didn't have time to "dump it" before it was discovered.

Cook said the accusations were outrageous. He would never have risked 
"on the drop of a dime everything" he stands for - his career, his 
wife, his two kids, his house - to become a drug trafficker.

He waited four years to tell his story. "The allegations against me 
are completely unfounded...I would never engage in any criminal activity.

Rykhoff has denied putting the packages in Cook's cruiser or having 
any knowledge that Cook took them home. He denied telling Cook to 
take them to his home when he testified as a Crown witness in 
February. Williams also denied ever seeing the fake bricks in Cook's cruiser.

The 14-year veteran officer discovered the bricks in his cruiser's 
trunk at the end of his shift in the early hours of Nov. 17.

Cook today said Williams also told him after his arrest that he spoke 
to the RCMP and confirmed he saw the box. But he discovered later 
that Williams lied to him about what he told investigators.

"My phone wasn't ringing. My wife was still crying. I just wanted him 
to come forward and talk," Cook said. He realized their fear of 
prosecution, both criminally and under the Police Act, meant they 
weren't going to clear him.

"My life was being turned upside down," Cook said. "I knew only he 
and Rykhoff could confirm the box.

"If he (Williams) had come forward and told the truth that he saw the 
box in the trunk of my cruiser and had given me direction to hang 
onto that box after talking to Marty then I wouldn't be sitting in 
this chair right now."

Cook never thought there would be any consequences for taking the box home.

"I was operating under the authority of my two immediate bosses," he 
said. "I believed it wasn't a controlled substance. I believed the 
box mistakenly was put in the trunk. I had no reason to believe there 
was anything untoward happening.

"The truth is I was told to take that box home by Williams and it was 
done under the direction of Rykhoff...I never thought in my wildest 
dreams I would ever be in this position."

Cook, Rykhoff and Williams were among several officers, who unloaded 
boxes of rotting mangoes with hidden suspected bricks of cocaine from 
the delivery truck in Mississauga the night before.

He maintains Rykhoff took a box from the back of the courier truck 
that night and walked away with it, later asking to borrow the keys 
to his cruiser.

Cook has denied putting the box into his cruiser.

He later saw five boxes loaded from a CIB van to a morality van and 
never asked Rykhoff if the box he took was in that load.

Cook never got the chance to return the product as planned because 
his shift extended because of a fire call and when he got home he had 
to take his children to a baby sitter.

He caught a few hours of sleep. But RCMP officers, some wearing 
bullet proof vests, stopped his car as he left his garage with his 
children about 11 a.m.

The dummy drugs ended up in his water craft after the box broke when 
he was transferring it from cars in his garage, Cook testified.

The RCMP also found a small quantity of marijuana in a box in his 
garage. He said the box was the property of a tenant, who skipped out 
on renting a condo owned by his brother, who was storing the boxes in 
his garage.

Police also located 21 MP3 players at the home, which they said were 
among more than 400 allegedly stolen from an un-related investigation.

Cook explained the MP3s belonged to his brother, and were bought at a 
flea market to give as gifts to his real estate clients.

Rykhoff never showed up for work on Nov. 17. Instead, he went to 
Halifax with friends for a college football game, faking illness and 
phoning in sick.

Rykhoff was subsequently convicted of Police Act offences and docked 
five days pay. He was also suspended until mid-January 2006.

Court has also heard a sliced open package with the dummy drugs was 
found by the RCMP in a dumpster near where Rykhoff lived.

Cook is charged with attempt to possess a controlled substance for 
the purpose of trafficking, possession of marijuana for the purpose 
of trafficking, possession of stolen property (MP3 players) from a 
police investigation and breach of trust as a police officer. He 
remains suspended with pay.
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