RCMP INTEL OFFICIAL GETS BAIL
Ortis freed under strict conditions
Cameron Ortis walked out of the Ottawa courthouse Tuesday morning with his lawyer and family members at his side after a judge granted bail to the former high-ranking RCMP intelligence official accused of preparing to leak sensitive information.
Ortis, 47, will live under the strict supervision of his parents in Abbotsford, B.C., as part of a lengthy list of bail conditions imposed by Justice of the Peace Serge Legault, who released Ortis on recognizance after posting a $125,000 bond.
According to the bail conditions, Ortis must remain under house arrest, be supervised by one of his parents at all times and must not leave the home without one surety present.
He was ordered to surrender his passport within one day of his release and cannot apply for a new one and, beginning Monday, Ortis must report in person each week to the nearest RCMP detachment in Mission, B.C.
He is forbidden to use, possess or have any access to communication equipment capable of connecting to the internet “or any component thereof,” the judge ordered, including cellphones, computer tablets or any other devices.
All phones, computers and tablets already owned by his parents must be password protected and the judge warned the sureties seated in the courtroom not to share their passwords with their son.
The devices in the condo must be kept protected “on the person unless in (a) locked receptacle.”
Legault said a cellular-connected alarm system would be installed to main door of the residence.
Ortis is also forbidden from any public access to the internet or related devices and is forbidden from possessing weapons.
He is not to contact or communicate with anyone known to have a criminal record or criminal association or any witness in the proceedings.
Ortis appeared to breathe a sigh of relief after Legault announced his decision that he had met the onus on each of the grounds on which the Crown had sought to detain him.
He is accused of violating three sections of the Security of Information Act as well as two Criminal Code provisions, including breach of trust, for allegedly trying to disclose classified information to an unspecified foreign entity or terrorist group.
The bail hearing is covered by a
publication ban that restricts all evidence given in court and any information related to the proceedings and will remain in place until the accused is either discharged or a trial is completed.
Federal Crown prosecutors John MacFarlane and Judy Kliewer had argued for Ortis to be detained during a two-day hearing last week, while Ortis’s defence lawyer Ian Carter argued for his release under a bail plan.
The former intelligence official remained silent and expressionless in the prisoner’s box for much of the hearing, wearing a dress shirt and dark-rimmed glasses.
“The allegations are he obtained, stored and processed sensitive information, the Crown believes, with the intent to communicate that information to people he shouldn’t be communicating to,” MacFarlane said after Ortis’s first court appearance following his arrest on Sept. 12.
The RCMP laid five charges under the Security of Information Act, alleging that Ortis communicated “special operational information” between Feb. 1, 2015, and May 2015.
According to the charge sheets, the RCMP also allege that between last September and the date of his
arrest, Ortis obtained information “in preparation of the commission of (the) offences” and possessed a device or software “useful for concealing the content of information or surreptitiously communicating, obtaining or retaining information.”
He faces two additional charges under the Criminal Code as authorities allege Ortis fraudulently obtained a computer service between 2015 and 2019 and that Ortis committed breach of trust “in connection with the duties of his office.”
The RCMP said in an official release the charges stem from activities alleged to have occurred during his tenure as an RCMP employee.
RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki has said the allegations, if proven true, are extremely unsettling, given Ortis had access to intelligence from domestic and international allies.
Lucki provided few other details and cautioned that information in the public domain was “speculative, unhelpful and may be harmful to our investigation and judicial process.”
With files from The Canadian Press ahelmer@postmedia.com Twitter.com/ helmera