HTTP/1.0 200 OK Content-Type: text/html Undercover Work Led To Officer's Drug Habit - Lawyer 
Pubdate: Tue, 20 Jun 2006
Source: Toronto Star (CN ON)
Copyright: 2006 The Toronto Star
Contact:  http://www.thestar.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/456
Author: Roberta Avery, Special To The Star

UNDERCOVER WORK LED TO OFFICER'S DRUG HABIT - LAWYER

BARRIE - A police officer who infiltrated the Hells Angels became so
addicted to cocaine, alcohol and marijuana that he cracked under the
strain of life undercover, a court has heard.

Former Ontario Provincial Police Det. Const. Scott Duguid, 35, who
pleaded guilty to breach of trust last August, started using drugs
because of the risks of trying to fool members of the notorious
motorcycle gang, his lawyer Harry Black told Duguid's sentencing
hearing yesterday.

"He was forced to take drugs to preserve his identity," Black told
Justice Joseph Wilson in the Ontario Court of Justice

Duguid was physically ill and his marriage was falling apart from the
stress of his double, sometimes triple life, said Black.

The officer realized he was out of his depth and appealed to his OPP
superiors for help, but was told to carry on because the OPP "had
never got so close to the Hells Angels before," said Black.

During Duguid's trial in August, court heard he fed information about
the location of marijuana crops to two men in September 2003 so they
could harvest the crops before police raids.

Duguid, whose father and grandfather were both OPP officers -- his
grandfather was assistant commissioner of the force -- managed the
Huronia Combined Force Drug Enforcement Unit's program to search and
destroy outdoor marijuana.

He was caught when police intercepted calls about drug locations
between Duguid and brothers Jody Proctor, 27, and Jamie Proctor, 29.
In another conversation caught on tape, the brothers made reference to
paying Duguid $1,000 for helping them.

Black said Duguid, who resigned from the OPP in January, was grooming
Jody Proctor as a possible informant but handled it badly.

"His thinking was so skewed from taking the drugs and the pressure
that he made a horrifically bad judgment," said Black.

Some of Duguid's former colleagues in the OPP are expected to testify
later this week as his sentencing hearing continues.
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