WIRETAP SPECIALIST ACCUSED OF PERJURY

A judge's accusation that an Ontario Provincial Police officer
repeatedly lied to the court in connection with a drug investigation
has led to the laying of three criminal charges against a veteran
wiretap specialist, police said yesterday.

Detective Sergeant John Cavanaugh, with the OPP's technical support
operations in Orillia, was charged with two counts of perjury and one
count of attempting to obstruct justice following a nine-month
investigation by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, said a
spokesperson.

After he was charged, Cavanaugh was released under a promise to appear
in court tomorrow at Old City Hall to set a date for a preliminary
hearing.

The OPP called in the RCMP to investigate remarks made by a judge last
September, who said in a 38-page ruling that an officer lied to five
judges, destroyed five boxes of evidence in a case involving the
Satan's Choice Motorcycle Club, and told a number of other falsehoods
in seeking telephone wiretaps on alleged drug dealers.

Mr. Justice John Macdonald said in his ruling that he had no choice
but to drop drug-related charges against four men, saying that the
officer had taken the law "into his own hands."

Macdonald went on to say that the officer's actions were allegedly
taken to ensure that the investigation would continue. The officer,
said the judge, "flouted the law."

The officer was part of an OPP-led task force called Project
Dismantle. The 1996 investigation was cited, at the time, as the
biggest probe ever into alleged illegal activity by the biker gang.
Dozens of suspects were arrested and more than $10 million in illicit
narcotics were seized by the police.

But the case against the bikers began to unravel when it went before
the courts, and drug charges against 50 suspects were eventually dismissed.

Macdonald said in his ruling that the officer was "deliberately
deceitful."

After the judge's ruling, the OPP called in the RCMP.

"At the OPP's request, the RCMP began an investigation to look into
the judge's concerns," RCMP Corporal Michele Paradis said yesterday.