Seven Toronto police officers and one retired officer have been arrested and charged in an organized crime investigation involving bribery, conspiracy to commit murder, and drug trafficking, authorities said Thursday. Police officials at a news conference said the officers had collected personal and private information unlawfully and distributed it to organized crime figures, in some cases for bribes, and that mobsters then carried out shootings and other violent crimes, per the AP. "This is a painful and unsettling moment," Toronto Police Chief Myron Demkiw said. "When organized crime penetrates the Toronto Police Service, the harm goes far beyond the immediate wrongdoing."
York Regional Police Deputy Chief Ryan Hogan said the investigation began in June when police uncovered a murder plot involving a corrections management employee who was being targeted by mobsters. He said the suspects passed information to the mobsters about the employee. Several suspected mobsters went to the corrections manager's home for the purpose of murdering him, but they encountered a separate contingent of police officers who were protecting the employee and who arrested the suspected mobsters after they rammed a police car, Hogan said. He noted it was the third time in 36 hours that suspects had gone to the home, and the incident sparked the probe that revealed Toronto officers had accessed personal information and leaked it to members of an organized crime group.
Investigators allege that Toronto police Const. Timothy Barnhardt gave personal information to Brian Da Costa, a man suspected of several drug trafficking and bribery offenses who was among several suspects allegedly seeking confidential information from officers. Toronto police officers Derek McCormick, Elias Mouawad, John Madeley Jr., and his father, retired constable John Madeley Sr., are among those charged in the investigation. Toronto police officers Robert Black, Saurabjit Bedi, and Carl Grellette were also charged, and were allegedly involved in bribery schemes orchestrated by Da Costa, Hogan said.
In addition to Da Costa, 18 other suspects were arrested in the investigation, including two youths. Demkiw said the officers who were suspected of wrongdoing have been suspended and that he's seeking suspension without pay for at least four of them. York Regional Police Chief Jim MacSween called it a "deeply disappointing and sad day" for police. A statement from the Toronto Police Service Board, which oversees the police, said it has asked the inspector general to look into issues including supervision, recruitment screening, access to databases, and more.
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