DRUG RAP IS 'CRAP': LAWYER'S PAL

Ex-FBI Agent, 72, Released On Bond

An elderly Toronto lawyer and former FBI agent accused of smuggling
drugs to a jailhouse client emerged from court custody yesterday
proclaiming his innocence.

Edmund L. Schofield, 72, who also has a home in Stratford, said Don
Jail guards gave a client a "cursory pat down" -- not the strip
search they claimed -- before they sat across a table to discuss the
prisoner's case late Tuesday.

When the client reached into "his crotch," the Boston-born ex-Toronto
prosecutor and grandfather said he questioned him and "he said 'I'm
moving it to a safe place.'

"Within two minutes they were storming us," he said of the guards,
who dragged his client away and "wouldn't give me any details."

Marijuana And Cocaine

Toronto Police later showed him three small packets guards said they
found on the prisoner, two they said held marijuana, the other cocaine.

"I've never touched drugs in all my life," Schofield said, after
hugging one of his four daughters after his release from an Old City
Hall court cell. "I feel like I got hit by a truck ... it's very frustrating."

Weary and unshaven, he wore the same clothes put on for court in
Brampton on Tuesday, before visiting clients in three lockups.

Carried A Gun

A graduate of the University of Toronto, Mary Beth Schofield said her
dad was sent "all over" with the FBI in the U.S., before returning to Canada.

During demonstrations in the deep south in the 1960s, he was one of
several agents who carried guns to protect civil rights "Freedom
Riders" who defied segregation.

Schofield's daughter said he is strong-willed, "but even if you're
completely innocent, even having your name associated with things
like this can be very debilitating.

"Poor guy, he's getting too old for this," she said.

Justice of the Peace Sonny Ng released Schofield on a $10,000 surety
bond and ordered him back April 18, a day after his 73rd birthday.

Federal Crown prosecutor Chris Gruppuso did not oppose a duty defence
counsel's request for a publication ban on court proceedings, which Ng granted.

Outside the courthouse, lawyer David O'Connor -- who posted the
cashless bond -- said his friend "is absolutely outraged.

"He's absolutely going to defend himself very vigorously," said
O'Connor, who had embraced Schofield over a barrier in the prisoner dock.

"He can't wait to prove his innocence," he said.

Schofield is highly respected and liked, O'Connor said. "It's a sad
thing ... he's a fine man."

Lawyer Jeff House, who said he offered his house as collateral for
Schofield's release, called his charges of trafficking in marijuana
and cocaine, plus possession of pot for the purposes of trafficking, "crap.

"We've all seen searches in jail and if you have a knife or a gun,
they confiscate it," House said. The guards said they searched the
client "and found nothing, then they searched him again and found the drugs.

"It's perfectly likely that they missed it ... the first time," House said.

Emma Rhodes, who also offered her home for Schofield's bail, said she
and other lawyers worry about guards now having more powers to bring
charges against jailhouse visitors like them.

Her firm now insists "we not meet with clients unless it's through glass."