YORK COP FACES DRUG CHARGE

An eight-year veteran of York Regional Police and her husband are facing
drug charges after a search of the couple's Georgina home turned up drugs
and paraphernalia.

Police were tight lipped about how the investigation began, but drug cops
were watching the officer's husband and pulled him over near Herald Road
and Woodbine Avenue in East Gwillimbury as he was driving home Friday.

He was arrested on drug possession and trafficking charges after officers
found cocaine, ecstasy, marijuana and hashish in the car, along with a
large quantity of pills believed to be steroids.

Officers then raided the home he shares with his wife, Const. Nadine
Morcos, a 34-year-old officer with the criminal investigative bureau in
Richmond Hill.

Marijuana, cocaine, other controlled substances and drug paraphernalia were
found in the home and Const. Morcos was charged with possession of a
controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking.

She surrendered to police in Markham Saturday and has been suspended with
pay, as is York Regional Police policy.

"It came as a shock to me and a lot of our members," York Regional Police
Chief Armand La Barge said. "It's very upsetting to me personally."

Police were keeping most of the details of the case to themselves because
it is before the courts, but Chief La Barge said there was no initial
indication the drugs were taken from any police station or were evidence in
a drug investigation.

"Those are the type of things we'll be looking into throughout the course
of the investigation," he added.

The professional standards bureau is investigating.

Const. Morcos is to appear in Newmarket court April 19.

Her husband, Andrew Marter, 36, has been charged with four counts of
possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, four
counts of possession of a controlled substance and producing a controlled
substance.