A Toronto police officer has been charged with a number of offences after allegedly stealing a police radio and subsequently receiving kickbacks as part of organized crime involving the towing industry.
Toronto police announced the results of the investigation during a press conference Monday morning.
Supt. Domenic Sinopoli said an investigation into the theft of encrypted police radios began in August 2019.
“As the investigation took on some light, the corruption revealed itself,” Sinopoli said.
“What we learned was a consortium of tow truck drivers who were in possession of stolen police radios and were utilizing the encrypted transmissions to facilitate their business interests. The transmissions were broadcast to other tow truck drivers for a fee through the use of an internet-based app.”
Sinopoli said drivers would use the radios to get to accident scenes quickly, and in some situations possibly evade police.
Sinopoli said one officer was allegedly responsible for the theft of a police radio and giving it to the tow truck drivers.
“The stolen radio was cloned and put back into TPS circulation,” he said, adding that the police service then unknowingly had a fake radio in its possession.
“The same officer, operating out of 22 Division, was receiving monetary compensation for informing the said group on accident locations.”
Sinopoli said the officer also operated a car rental agency and owned two tow trucks, which were operated by members of the group.
“The officer would receive monetary compensation for the tow trucks, he would receive kickbacks for the tips he provided and he would receive referrals to his car rental agency,” he said.
The officer, who was first arrested on June 15 and charged with breach of trust and theft, was re-arrested on Thursday as search warrants were executed as part of the investigation. He was charged with additional offences.
Const. Ronald Joseph, 47, now faces an additional charge of commissioning an offence for criminal organization and participating in activities of a criminal organization, among other offences.
Officials said it’s believed a total of three police radios were stolen sometime between February 2018 and December, though it isn’t clear if other officers may be involved.
Police allege the stolen radios were used by “several” tow-truck companies.
Sinopoli said after the execution of different search warrants in May and June, a total of 11 individuals were arrested.
“The industry is ripe with corruption,” Sinopoli said.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean that all tow truck drivers are corrupt. What this means is that there are certain individuals who are taking advantage of the system and the opportunities available to them to facilitate their business interests.”
Kevin Lima, Francisco Mike Portela, Jacob Villeneuve Portela, Mark Wolfe, Leonardo Ciulla, Hernani Capela, Giuseppe Carfora, Michael Carreiro, Francesco Caruso, and Tyson Plourde all face charges in the investigation.
This comes after York Regional Police released the results of an investigation into the towing industry at the end of May, which resulted in hundreds of organized crime charges being laid amid ongoing turf wars.