Corruption case trial hears of bid ‘to plant drugs’
One of three Calgary police officers charged in a corruption case said the man who hired him talked of planting drugs in the car of a woman they we retailing, her lawyer said Thursday.
And lawyer Clive Llewellyn said Anthony Braile told him that wouldn’t have been difficult, since former city police drug investigator Steve Walton had a key fob for A kele Taylor’s car.
Llewellyn said he extensively interviewed Braile as part of planned litigation on behalf of Taylor against the police and the woman’s former boyfriend in August 2014.
That’s when Braile came forward as a “whistleblower” to reveal Taylor had been under surveillance for months.
Braile, who was under suspension at the time and has since been fired on an unrelated matter, and fellow officers Bryan Morton and Bradford McNish face charges of bribery and unlawfully using a police computer system.
Braile faces an additional charge of criminal harassment and McNish an extra allegation of breach of trust by a public officer, while Morton faces both additional accusations.
The charges stem from incidents between Aug. 11, 2012, and 2015.
Llewellyn testified Br aile told him part of the surveillance involved placing a Global Positioning System (GPS) device on the undercarriage of Taylor’s Mercedes-Benz.
He said Braile indicated the battery in the device had to be replaced every two weeks, and he was often tasked with doing so.
Braile described one incident where “they had some trouble with the GPS ... and while he was under (the Mercedes) the doors went click, click,” said Llewellyn.
The accused told the lawyer he jumped up expecting to see Taylor approaching, but instead saw Walton and Walton’s wife, Heather.
“They had a fob for the Mercedes,” Llewellyn said he was told by Braile.
“They could get into Ms. Taylor’s car,” the lawyer told Crown prosecutor Julie Snowdon.
“Mr. Walton had said they were going to plant drugs in the car,” he said.
“I don’t know if it was a statement of what they had done, or what they were going to do.”
Llewellyn said Braile told him he was hired by Walt onto do surveillance on Taylor over a child-custody dispute she was embroiled in with her ex-boyfriend, wealthy Calgarian Kenneth Carter.
Even though the officer told him Morton and McNish were involved in the surveillance, Llewellyn’s testimony is only admissible against Braile.
The Waltons and Carter are scheduled to stand trial on their own charges in September.