Tamara Cherry, Toronto Sun
Two RCMP officers have been suspended and charged with attempting to obstruct justice after they opened a container and inspected a “large quantity” of illegal drugs without a warrant.
The allegations stem from an incident in February 2005 involving officers from the Toronto Airport Drug Enforcement Unit, which is made up of officers from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Ontario Provincial Police, Canada Border Services Agency and Toronto and Peel Regional police.
The officers in question were investigating a shipment of unknown narcotics from Vancouver, B.C. to Hamilton. It is alleged that the officers opened the container without a warrant and discovered “a large quantity” of methamphetamine, according to Durham Regional Police, which investigated the incident at the request of the RCMP and subsequently charged the officers.
When a search warrant was obtained from a Brampton court, it wasn’t documented in the investigators’ notes or in the warrant application that the container had already been opened and inspected, Durham Regional Police said.
Due to this alleged misconduct by the officers, no criminal charges could be laid against the individuals who shipped the drugs, RCMP Sgt. Michele Paradis said.
“The last thing that we wanted to do was to bring the justice system into disrepute,” Paradis said, adding that charges couldn’t be laid in those circumstances.
Paradis wouldn’t comment on how or when the allegations against the officers came to light, or how much methamphetamine was found, saying “I can’t get into that; that has to do with an internal process.”
She did say, however, that the shipment of drugs was seized in February 2005 and no charges were ever laid against the alleged drug dealers.
As soon as it became apparent that the officers may have “misled the judicial process in the obtaining of the warrant,” the RCMP handed the investigation over to Durham police, she said.
“I can say that there was an assessment done and once there were grounds found to look forward to a criminal investigation, we passed it along to Durham Region.”
Durham police were contacted by the RCMP in March to conduct a criminal investigation, Dave Selby, a spokesperson for Durham said.
Sgt. John Macleod, 51, and Const. Brian Bouleton, 29, were arrested and released on Tuesday after they surrendered to police at the Oshawa Community Police Office.
They were suspended from the RCMP the same day, Paradis said, not commenting on whether they were suspended with pay.
They are scheduled to appear to face the charges at Old City Hall in Toronto on Nov. 29.
Recent Comments