Cops likely stole thousands in cash from Toronto man during drug bust, judge finds

The court case for a man accused of drug trafficking has been tossed out after an Ontario judge found it "reasonable" to believe that Toronto police stole approximately $6,000 in cash seized while executing a warrant at the man's apartment.

The Toronto police officers who searched and seized a quantity of cocaine and money from the accused’s apartment on Weston Road claimed they found a total of $19,390, according to court documents reviewed by CTV News Toronto.

A split photo of defence lawyer Kim Schofield's recreation of the money seized from a drug bust compared to a Toronto police photo of the cash (Supplied).But 36-year-old Andrew Rocha, the accused in this case, alleged in court that the amount taken from his apartment was actually $6,000 higher.

An Ontario Superior Court judge granted a stay of proceedings on Wednesday, which permanently halts the prosecution of an accused, because Rocha’s charter rights were violated, a pretrial ruling states.

“The judge, in this case, found that the police stole $6,000 from my client,” defence lawyer Kim Schofield told CTV News Toronto on Thursday.

'A NUMBER OF IRREGULARITIES'

On Feb. 6, 2019, Toronto police officers executed a search warrant at Rocha’s apartment, the court found.

Within the proceedings, officers said they seized $19,390 held together by coloured elastic bands stored in shoe boxes and a closet, along with a half-kilogram of cocaine found in paint cans and a coffee container.

Evidence presented in court, however, exposed that the actual amount seized was thousands of dollars higher.

As per protocol, officers photographed the goods and cash seized from Rocha's apartment in February. One of those photographs captured a large stack of cash sitting on a table in the apartment -- presumably, the $19,390 police said they took from the residence. But, when compared to another photograph of the monetary seizure taken at the police station, the stacks were different sizes.

“It’s really a matter of comparing the photographs,” Schofield said.

“When you compare the two stacks of money, it appears [...] it looks substantially different from what the police seized in my client’s unit.”

Within court proceedings, the prosecution claimed the officer responsible for handling the money seized did not steal any cash and blamed the missing $6,000 on clerical errors.

However, Judge Andras Screck said the officer was not a “credible witness" for a number of reasons, including but not limited to a “shifting explanation” on why any money was missing in the first place.

“There were a number of irregularities in the processing of the cash,” Screck wrote in the pre-trial ruling. “Some of these irregularities were explained by the officer who processed the report. Some were not.”

At the same time, the judge found the defence's ability to show how they bundled the cash, which lined up with police notes detailing the denominations seized, as credible.

A photo of money stored in a shoe box taken by Toronto police at a drug bust (Supplied). “Based on the foregoing, I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities that approximately $6,000 of the seized cash is missing,” the judge wrote.

Screck underlined that missing money does not automatically mean the cash was stolen by the police officer. “Although, given its inherent value, this is a reasonable inference," he said.

'ACTION' TO BE TAKEN IF NEEDED: POLICE

When reached for comment following Screck's decision, a spokesperson for the Toronto Police Service said it will "review the judgement and any new evidence that may have been presented in court, and if need be, will take appropriate action."

Schofield expressed doubts in response to the service's commitment to action, if needed.

Before pre-trial proceedings were initiated, the defence took the additional step of asking Toronto police to conduct an internal investigation into the alleged theft. The Professional Standards Unit complied with the request and investigated, but found the allegations were unsubstantiated.

“I think it’s not a surprise to anybody that the police investigating the police is not a very viable or reliable system,” Schofield said.