A nine-year Toronto police veteran is facing three additional criminal charges stemming from an arrest in which heroin was allegedly planted in a suspect’s car following a traffic stop in January 2014.
Police said Wednesday 33-year-old Const. Benjamin Elliot has been charged with two counts of obstruct justice and one count of perjury. The accused was charged earlier this year with four counts of obstruction of justice and three counts of perjury.
Elliot and three other officers were charged after an Ontario judge ruled in 2015 that they planted heroin in Nguyen Son Tran’s vehicle to justify an illegal search.
READ MORE: 3 Toronto police officers face 5 new charges in alleged heroin planting during 2014 arrest
Drug charges against Tran were stayed after inconsistencies were discovered in the officers’ stories.
Chief Mark Saunders said in January the arrests followed an investigation conducted by the police professional standards unit working with the crown attorney’s office.
Tran’s lawyer Kim Schofield told Global News in February that officers found heroin in her client’s vehicle, opened the package and sprinkled it on the console.
“They called for forensic identification services. They then photographed the scene of planted, concocted evidence,” she said.
The other officers charged in relation to the case are Const. Jeffery Tout, Const. Michael Taylor and Det. Const. Fraser Douglas.
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