RCMP PROBES TORONTO POLICE CORRUPTION

Senior Mountie Heads Inquiries Into Disgraced Drug Squad

The investigation is a 'sad passage in the history of the Toronto
Police Service' - Chief Julian Fantino.

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.