ADDICT COP GUILTY

Drug squad officer bet on fixed races: Informant

BRAMPTON -- A veteran Toronto Police drug squad officer yesterday pleaded
guilty to two counts of cocaine possession in a bizarre criminal case in
which four other officers have also been implicated as cocaine users.
Information was also given to internal affairs officers that some of the
five officers and other cops knowingly placed bets on fixed horse races in
Toronto, Canada and in the United States, it was stated in a preliminary
hearing of the case.

Robert Kelly, 36, a 14-year veteran of the Toronto police major crime and
drug units, has been suspended with pay since his Nov. 16, 2001, arrest by
an RCMP tactical team and will be sentenced this fall.

The four other cops have not been charged criminally or under the Police
Services Act and are still on the job.

Kelly, who had faced two counts of possession of cocaine for the purposes of
trafficking and two counts of cocaine possession, is a highly respected and
"brave" officer who became addicted to cocaine "on the job" as a drug cop,
his lawyer Peter Brauti said outside court.

"I just want to say my pride in being a Toronto police officer is second
only to the service I've given this police force and the community. I leave
court today with my head held high, having beaten a serious and seductive
illness," Kelly said.

While admissions in an agreed statement read before Justice Ian Cowan
yesterday may seem damning, Brauti said, the rest of the story will come out
during four days of sentencing hearings slated to begin in September.

COMPLAINT OF THREATS

"What you heard today ... is just a small sliver," Brauti said.

Kelly, who served the last six years as an undercover officer with the North
West Field Command drug squad, became a suspect after a horse trainer, who
was a police informer with ties to organized crime, alleged in complaints to
Toronto police internal affairs officers in October 2001 that Kelly had
threatened him because he hadn't paid out a $25,000 win from a fixed horse
race.

The subsequent probe was done by a special 25-man RCMP-led internal affairs
task force looking into alleged corruption in the Central Field Command drug
squad.

Evidence given at Kelly's preliminary hearing last month by task force
officers revealed that the horse trainer alleged Kelly and another officer
- -- a sergeant who spent time on the drug squad and the Emergency Task Force
- -- not only did cocaine with him but supplied him with cocaine.

While Kelly was put under surveillance for 17 days and was subject to
wiretap and body-pack taping, it appears the other four officers escaped
such scrutiny.

Task-force officers testified at the preliminary that four officers were
interviewed by detectives and three were asked for hair samples or nail
clippings for cocaine residue testing. Their ultimate fate was not revealed
in court.

Staff Supt. David Dicks of the Toronto police professional standards branch
confirmed last night that allegations against four other officers were
probed but said there was insufficient evidence to lay charges.

Brauti and prosecutors John North and Fergus O'Donnell agreed in the
statement of fact that Kelly was introduced to the informer by another cop
in the summer of 2001, and Kelly became his handler. Soon the men were
partying and gambling on horse races. Kelly shared "small quantities" of
cocaine with the agent, says the statement of facts.

The agent supplied "inside information" that certain races were likely fixed
and got part of the winnings.

At a Nov. 6, 2001, meeting at a Lone Star restaurant in Mississauga, the man
gave Kelly $2,500 in police cash as a purported partial payment of his
$25,000 gambling debt.

CAUGHT WITH GOODS

On Nov. 9, 2001, at Kool Kats bar in Mississauga, Kelly handed the agent a
bag containing 3.15 grams of cocaine, says the statement.

The agent gave Kelly another $3,000 supplied by police.

In a Nov. 15, 2001, telephone call, the agent told Kelly he had more cash.
Kelly said he was "working on" more cocaine.

The next night outside Kool Kats, the agent was in the bar when Kelly called
him on the cell phone.

"I got something for you, come here you f-----," Kelly said on tape.

In Kelly's car, Kelly placed a small amount of cocaine on the driver's
manual and began to cut it with a health card.

The agent gave a takedown signal and Kelly was arrested. Less than a gram of
cocaine was found on the seat of the car, Kelly's clothing and the driver's
manual. Traces were also found in the glove box.

It was also revealed at the preliminary hearing that more than a year ago,
Kelly's former lawyer struck a deal with a prosecutor to have him plead
guilty to possession, but the deal was nixed by senior federal prosecutors.

Last month, the informant refused to answer a subpoena, citing safety
concerns.