Toronto police say a 17-year veteran of the service is facing several charges after the accused allegedly went to a resident’s home in uniform while off-duty and threatened them over a debt.
According to a statement released by the service Friday evening, police said the 32 Division officer went to the home at around 7 a.m. on April 22.
While wearing his full Toronto police uniform and carrying his service firearm, he allegedly “threatened the complainant over a debt owed to a third party.”
Police said the victim filed a complaint with police that same day.
On April 25, police said the third party referenced by the officer was arrested. Prakesh Manoharan was charged with extortion and threatening bodily harm. He was released on bail.
Meanwhile, the Toronto police professional standards unit launched an investigation into the matter. The officer was arrested Thursday evening. Police said while arresting the accused, his use of force equipment — including his service pistol — “were found to be stored improperly.”
Const. Lionel Sean Peters was subsequently charged with threatening bodily harm, extortion, breach of trust of a public officer and careless storage.
He appeared in court on Friday and was remanded into custody for a bail hearing to be held on Monday.
According to the 2018 Ontario public sector salary disclosure, Peters was paid $174,174.74 last year.