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Toronto Police Constable Ewan MacLeod is alleged to have used police databases to search license plates and a phone number at the behest of a man who was a suspect in a Halton Regional Police stolen goods investigation, Toronto police said in a news release on Monday.
Christopher Katsarov/The Canadian Press
A Toronto Police officer has been criminally charged over allegations he used police databases to gather information for a known criminal over the course of several months last year.
Between April and October, 2020, Toronto Police Constable Ewan MacLeod, 44 – a 20-year veteran of the service, working in 23 Division in the city’s northwest – is alleged to have used police databases to search license plates and a phone number at the behest of a man who was a suspect in a Halton Regional Police stolen goods investigation, Toronto police said in a news release on Monday.
Halton investigators discovered text exchanges between their suspect and the Toronto constable and alerted TPS in February, and an internal professional standards investigation was launched, the news release said.
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Constable MacLeod, who has been suspended with pay since April, was charged criminally on Friday with one count of breach of trust.
He also faces charges under the Police Services Act, including two counts of breach of confidence, four of insubordination, and neglect of duty.
A lawyer for Constable MacLeod did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Monday.
A notice of hearing filed as part of a TPS disciplinary tribunal process includes some details about the allegations concerning the text communications with the man, who is identified in the document as “V.K.”
“You associated with V.K. knowing that V.K. was actively involved in criminal activity. There are numerous chats between yourself and V.K. that reveal to you that V.K. deals in stolen property,” the notice of hearing reads.
“Not only were you aware of the criminal activity, you took advantage of V.K.’s crimes by purchasing stolen property at below retail prices. Many of the chats consisted of V.K. offering items for sale or you inquiring if he has certain items for sale.”
Those items allegedly included “a Dyson vacuum, winter coats from Canada Goose or Moose Knuckles, Dutch oven cookware, Spalding basketballs, Nicorette gum, Nespresso machines, a home security system and a Weber barbecue.”
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In May, 2020, according to the notice of hearing, Constable MacLeod looked up a license plate number through his mobile work station, and then sent a screen shot of the registration to V.K.
Later that month, Constable MacLeod allegedly texted a photo to V.K. and another person of a man who was apprehended during a mental health call three years earlier. Constable MacLeod is alleged to have taken the photo with his personal cellphone at the hospital, where the man was treated after being shot four times with soft bullets.
In October, 2020, Constable MacLeod was allegedly asked over text chat by V.K. to track down the owner of a given phone number. The notice of hearing alleges that Constable MacLeod used a police database to search the number and a name the document refers to as “A.G.”
Constable MacLeod then ran the results of that search through the Ministry of Transportation portal to obtain information about a vehicle belonging to A. G.– which he relayed to V.K., the document said.
Toronto Police spokesperson Connie Osborne said the origin of Constable MacLeod’s relationship with V.K. (and whether they met through work, or their personal lives) is “forming part of the investigation.”
Constable MacLeod is scheduled to appear in court on Oct. 6.
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