DRUG CHARGE DROPPED AT FED REQUEST

5th Rap Stayed in Recent Weeks

A drug trafficking charge -- investigated by Toronto cop Robert Kelly who
has been charged with dealing narcotics -- was stayed suddenly yesterday.

Prosecutor Moiz Rahman offered no explanation to Judge John Hamilton why
the charge was being dropped against Barrington Brown, other than to say it
was at the behest of the federal justice department.

It was the fifth drug charge to be stayed in the past few weeks amid
speculation that a highly-secretive RCMP-led internal probe into drug squad
corruption is broadening its scope.

Defence lawyer John Scarfe said last night that a separate but identical
charge against Brown's brother, Roderick, was stayed in December.

Charged

The Browns were charged two years ago with drug trafficking in the Shoreham
Plaza in North York, two weeks after they allegedly sold drugs to an
undercover officer.

Scarfe said his clients say they are not guilty.

Kelly, 37, a 12-year veteran who worked with the Northwest Field Command
drug squad, was charged in November with trafficking in a controlled
substance, two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and
criminal breach of trust.

The Toronto Sun has learned that Kelly is also facing three Police Services
Act charges.

Two of the police act charges involve alleged dealings with Kelly's former
drug squad colleague, Gary Corbet.

Civil Suit

As revealed in The Toronto Sun last week, Kelly was one of 12 Northwest
Field Command drug squad officers named in a $4-million civil court suit in
which auto body repairman George Martin, 49, of Toronto, claimed he was
brutally attacked during a police drug raid. Martin alleged he was at a
rental home trying to collect rent from tenants when Kelly pounced on him,
held a gun to his head, punched him in the eye and the chest while yelling
,don't say nothing, I'm having a f---ing bad day."

Martin also claimed he was "recklessly, arbitrarily, falsely" arrested on
fabricated drug charges by officers who "intentionally" misrepresented the
facts to get a conviction and cover their actions. Corbett was also named
in the suit.

Prosecutors withdrew the criminal charges the following spring. The case
was settled out of court for an undisclosed sum. Martin's allegations were
never proven in court.