Probe Hits Local Firm; 9 Arrested and 11 Still at Large Law enforcement's latest salvo against the seemingly endless number of indoor marijuana grow operations across the city involves the arrests this week of a group allegedly selling growing equipment, supplies and the "clones" used to reproduce the leafy, green crops. Police say their nine-month investigation, dubbed Project OClone, shows that, while they're getting better at detecting and taking down grow-ops, they aren't keeping pace with their rapid proliferation. [continues 347 words]
Allegations Against Officers Include Missing Cash, Narcotics Internal Probe Grew Out Of $3 Million Criminal Investigation Missing money and drugs, falsified search warrants, and lying before a judge are among the disturbing allegations in dozens of police services act charges laid against 11 former Toronto drug squad officers. Details of 83 internal charges against the Central Field Command drug squad investigators were released yesterday by the force at a police tribunal where the officers were to make their first appearance. None of them appeared in person, but all were represented by lawyers. It's likely a trial date could be a year or more away since five of the officers also face criminal charges stemming from a lengthy RCMP-led investigation concluded in 2004. [continues 383 words]
Four More Members Accused of Murder Arrests Have Almost Wiped Out Bike Gang The notorious Bandidos biker gang has been permanently put out of business in Ontario with the laying of murder charges against four of its few remaining members, police say. The final blow to the Ontario chapter of the motorcycle gang came earlier this week when Durham and York Region police ended a six-month investigation into the beating death of Shawn Douse, 35, of Keswick, arresting three people and issuing a Canada-wide warrant for a fourth Bandidos gang member who police say is hiding in British Columbia. [continues 532 words]
The night started with the transfer of $400,000 worth of cocaine to Wayne Kellestine's farmhouse and it ended with Ontario's largest mass murder. Hours before Ontario's largest mass murder, Durham Region police officers followed three of eight Bandidos from the Toronto area to a southwestern Ontario farmhouse belonging to the man now charged with killing them, sources have told the Toronto Star. Suspecting a major drug deal could be in the works, investigators tailed the trio west along Highway 401. But they were unaware the men were transporting a cargo of 200 kilograms of cocaine that night to fellow Bandido Wayne (Weiner) Kellestine's London-area farm, law enforcement sources say. [continues 870 words]
Enters Guilty Plea, Faces 12-Year Term Inflamed Violence In City, Court Told If you needed a .40-calibre Glock handgun, Jeffrey Tuck was your man. A sawed-off shotgun? No problem. A semi-automatic rifle? Tuck could get that for you, too. In fact, the 24-year-old Toronto man could get just about any type of weapon and ammunition quickly with his place-your-order, get-your-gun, criminal enterprise. He could get drugs as well -- marijuana, ecstasy, cocaine and heroin. [continues 806 words]
Inspectors Cite Overcrowding Patrons Found Smoking Pot Ontario's alcohol and gaming commission has slapped a bar in the Entertainment District with one of its stiffest penalties -- ordering the Pearl Lounge to stop serving alcohol for 70 days after inspections found overcrowding, drunk patrons and people smoking pot in the club. Short of revoking the licence of the popular Richmond St. W. nightclub, the suspension of the club's liquor licence from tomorrow until May is the severest penalty the commission can hand down, said spokesperson Ab Campion. [continues 332 words]
Officers Allegedly Paid To Protect Clubs From The Law Provided Mobsters With Safe Place To Stash Drugs, Money Two downtown bars and another on the Danforth were allegedly used as "drug depots" and protected by Toronto police officers while mobsters used the venues to stash drugs and count their money, sources say. Behind the scheme, operating over the past year, were several people who have been banned from owning or operating bars in Ontario, but who hired people to put their names on documents to fool agencies such as the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario, sources say. [continues 613 words]
Member Of Drug Squad Was Released On $10,000 Bail Special Task Force Is Investigating Allegations Of Corruption A Toronto police officer who was a member of a drug squad now being investigated for corruption was released on bail in Orangeville yesterday after being charged with three drug-related offences. Ned Maodus, 40, was charged with possession of heroin and cocaine for the purpose of trafficking, and possession of ecstasy. The arrest of Maodus is only the second time the special task force investigating alleged corruption in the Toronto Police Service has laid charges since it was established in the summer of 2001. [continues 302 words]
Fantino Shuffle To Target Drug Trade On Streets Three months into his new job, Toronto police Chief Julian Fantino is poised to orchestrate one of the largest reorganizations in the force's history. His top priorities will be to go after street-level drug dealers, improve the record of solving homicides and increase the number of officers and cruisers on the street answering emergency calls. Fantino's plan, to be unveiled to senior commanders in a month or so, follows some of the strategies used in American cities, such as New York, that target petty crime in order to combat larger criminal activity. What this new approach means for the force's community-based policing initiative, which saw officers working hand in hand with members of the community, is unclear. [continues 798 words]
Case Involves Skimming Cash From 'Fink Fund' Five veteran Toronto police officers now face more than 270 criminal charges stemming from a corruption scandal involving the theft of informant reward money, documents show. The formal charges filed yesterday by internal affairs investigators gives a dollar figure on the money the officers are alleged to have stolen from the force. It's about $5,000, and involves over a dozen alleged transactions over the past six years, with seven numbered informants. Each alleged theft of money carries with it multiple charges, including breach of trust, fraud, and forgery. [continues 578 words]
Drug Prosecutions Are In Jeopardy, Police, Lawyers Say Yesterday's arrests of five veteran Toronto police officers are just the latest in a number of high-profile cases in which city officers have found themselves charged with being on the wrong side of the law. Aside from the growing embarrassment, the allegations have prompted the unravelling of serious cases involving drug suspects and have placed many more in jeopardy. Charges in at least a dozen major drug cases involving certain members of central field command drug teams were stayed late last year. [continues 644 words]
Bust involved sales of rave drug, police sources say The underground drug culture at popular raves and the drug Ecstasy are behind a massive police crackdown that has resulted in several arrests, including a Toronto police officer, sources say. While Toronto police chief Julian Fantino is tight-lipped about the ongoing police operation that has resulted in dozens of charges, police sources say the case involves allegations a Toronto officer was selling Ecstasy in clubs. The officer was then using information about drug suspects to set them up for drug rip-offs, sources say. [continues 338 words]
Stewards to fight 'harassment' of drug investigators Toronto's police union, fed up with what it calls mounting harassment of drug squad officers by the internal affairs unit, plans to assign chief stewards to each drug unit and provide 24-hour access to union lawyers. "We're tired of our guys being harassed. We are going to ensure they have counsel all the time, to answer any questions they may have," said Craig Bromell, president of the 7,000-member Toronto Police Association. [continues 493 words]
Discovery of evidence linked to staying of charges Charges laid by members of a Toronto police drug squad are being stayed in large part because a key officer was discovered driving home with a large amount of seized drugs, sources say. No criminal charges have been laid, but the incident has brought the handling of seized narcotics by the entire Central Field Command drug squad into question. Seized drugs are supposed to be stored in police facilities. Chief David Boothby confirmed yesterday that some unnamed members of the squad have been under investigation by Internal Affairs since April. [continues 1201 words]
Report on crash that killed constable five years ago finally ready for release In the weeks before his 1994 death, Constable John Knight, a strapping Toronto traffic cop known as the Awesome Duke, was terribly troubled. His mind was a vault, full of secrets about some of the most high-profile cases of the day, including the 1991 murder of Dr. Carolyn Warrick. But in the late summer of 1994, pointed questions were being asked about possible police wrongdoing in the manhunt for Warrick's killers, particularly about Knight's involvement in the case. Internal affairs was on his case. [continues 967 words]
Police Tribunal Disciplined About 20 In 1998 Sex, Drugs And, Well, Poor Judgment The Toronto force's annual report on discipline shows that, over-all, the city's finest are indeed a good bunch, but there are a few problem officers who just don't seem to get it. One was the constable who took a man he met at a bar back to his place for a little recreational drug use and hanky-panky. After downing Valium and smoking some pot and hashish with his new friend, the officer offered the man $50 to masturbate in front of him. According to the official police report on the incident, contained in Professional Standards Annual report for 1998, the ``individual complied'' with the unnamed constable's request. [continues 670 words]
Drug Officers Risk Their Lives For As Little As $40 In the city's north end, an undercover officer fights desperately with a drug dealer, using him as a human shield as the dealer's cohort points a loaded sawed-off shotgun at the veteran detective. The attempted drug rip-off earlier this year could have ended tragically, but the officer's back-up team was close by and moved in to make arrests. On another day, this time in Scarborough, another undercover officer posing as a crack addict is led down a gloomy hallway to buy drugs. As she haggles with the young dealer, another suddenly shows up. [continues 1290 words]
Crown Wanted Officer Tried On Two Charges It didn't take the jury long this time around to decide Toronto Constable Rick Shank was justified when he shot and killed drug dealer Hugh Dawson during a violent struggle more than two years ago. But as the six men and six women began deliberating yesterday, some facts had been kept from them and they weren't aware of the legal battles that occurred just before the officer's second trial got under way on April 27. [continues 773 words]
Officer Will Be Tried Again In Suspect's Death A charge of criminal negligence causing death has been added to the manslaughter indictment against Toronto police Constable Richard Shank. He goes on trial for a second time next month in the fatal shooting of a suspected drug dealer. Crown Attorney Sandy Tse has filed a new indictment in Ontario Court, general division, charging Shank with the additional offence of criminal negligence in the March 30, 1997, shooting death of Hugh Dawson near Kennedy and Danforth Rds. in Scarborough. [continues 333 words]
