Cop challenges drug dealer’s testimony
The defendant turns sideways in the witness box, which he does a lot.
The defendant speaks directly to the jurors, which he does a lot.
“You guys, two of you are going to be leaving and won’t be deciding my fate. It might leave an empty feeling in your stomach, I don’t know.”
What the witness was alluding to is the fact that 14 jurors are hearing this trial in a downtown Toronto courtroom but two will be dismissed before they begin deliberations. It’s a safeguard for trials that are expected to run long and where a juror might be lost to illness or some other unforeseen event.
What the witness intended by making this direct appeal on Thursday morning was unclear. One could speculate but that would be inappropriate.
Up on the bench, the presiding judge — and Justice Robert Clark might well be described as the most irritable, snappish be-robed individual in Ontario courts — shakes his head and asks for the jury to take its morning break.
What was said in their absence can’t be reported, of course.
But it would be fair to suggest that this defendant, a 17-year veteran of Hamilton Police Service, five years with the guns and gangs unit, has extensive experience of courtrooms and testifying. He’s no virgin to the process.
A detective constable was Craig Ruthowsky, 44, and still is, though suspended from the force back in June 2012. The prosecution accuses him of being a dirty cop, on the payroll of drug traffickers — to the tune of $20,000 a month, as court has heard — in exchange for useful information about police investigations, search warrants and the like,
essentially allowing the pony-up crooks free reign on Hamilton turf and, if the Crown’s star witness is to be believed, dipping in for a piece of the action.
Ruthowsky has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, attempting to obstruct justice, trafficking cocaine, criminal breach of trust and conspiring to traffic marijuana.
In his second day on the stand, Ruthowsky continued to insist he was nobody’s cop-bitch, never took bribes from any drug dealers and, the crux of his evidentiary pushback, had been the one who’d cultivated his key finger-pointer as a police informant. That alleged snitch — which he adamantly denies — spent several days testifying last week and can be described only as Mr. X, his identity protected by a publication ban.
Mr. X claimed he became acquainted with Ruthowsky in 2011 after the officer participated in a drug raid on the dealer’s condo, that Ruthowsky had summoned him to a private meeting later, that there’d been assurances he, Ruthowsky, could pressure the Crown to drop the drug charges — as, in fact, those charges were subsequently stayed — and an agreement was reached on how much money would exchange hands monthly.
Ruthowsky, under direct questioning from defence lawyer Greg Lafontaine, recalls events differently. The defendant says he had long-targeted Mr. X as a potential informant and here was his chance. He called Mr. X to return keys seized in the raid, both for the property and a fleet of vehicles Mr. X was in the business of renting.
Sure, they talked. Sure, he held out the carrot of charges being withdrawn if Mr. X co-operated. Ruthowsky, wasn’t much interested in small-time drug dealers. He had his eyes on “bigger fish,” most especially the illicit gun trade; get all those gangbanging weapons off the street. And this is how it’s done, grooming a rat. Standard stuff.
“I probably portrayed it that way. ‘Let me do you a solid.’ It has to do with a perceived benefit that I’m getting out of my end of the deal.
“Right away I started asking questions. Right away he started giving me truthful answers … He said, these are high level cocaine associates that he would be able to provide us with.”
And the quid pro quo, Ruthowsky continued, was successful because Mr. X passed on info that led him to open cases in three investigations. “I believed he was a valuable resource. He was proving himself as such.” But Mr. X was under the mistaken impression he could “continue on his merry way” in his own criminal enterprises.
“Unfortunately for him, it was a double-edged sword.”
The first time Mr. X provided actionable dope, which Ruthowsky used to get a search warrant, led to a raid on a massive marijuana grow-op in October 2011. There were half a dozen cops involved. Mr. X testified he gave up the operation, in which he held a stake with partners, because he believed those partners were ripping him off. He said Ruthowsky had promised he could keep half of the weed recovered — except cops found no plants ready for harvest. It was to prove the worthlessness of the haul, Mr. X claimed, that Ruthowsky actually invited him to come take a look-see for himself.
Not quite, Ruthowsky countered Thursday.
Mr. X had pointed out the building to him earlier, Ruthowsky told court, boasting it contained 3,000 Stage 3 (harvestable) plants, with a value of some $3 million. “One of the biggest I’d heard of in Hamilton,” said Ruthowsky. “There was no arrangement with (Mr. X) whatsoever that he could take away any of it.”
Yes, he did phone Mr. X as he was on his way to execute the warrant. Just to say: “Yeah, it’s all good, thanks.
“At some point he showed up of his own accord.”
It was another officer who apparently spotted Mr. X at the scene, outside the building, “and came and got me.”
Ruthowsky told court he figured that the media would arrive shortly, they’d be allowed in, all the images would soon be on the internet anyway, so why not let him in? Said it was the least he could to thank his informant.
“OK. Is there a law against this? I couldn’t think of any. Is there a policy? I couldn’t think of any. It was to build trust, build a relationship … Why can’t I let my informant see it when he put us there? It makes him feel complete.”
Ruthowsky: “The idea that I was collaborating with (Mr. X) to steal marijuana, it doesn’t make any sense. Why would I bring a bunch of police officers (to the raid) that I don’t even know?”
Ruthowsky said he was all the time thinking outside the box, taking the initiative, even if it did mean doing things unconventionally and, well, slapdash. Like not following Hamilton police guidelines for registered informants, which he told court is why his dealings with Mr. X weren’t contained in his informant books. Put them in his own personal files instead — files which he took home from the cop shop following his suspension.
Not a cumbersome paperwork kind of guy. Likewise Ruthowsky’s explanation — sloppy bookkeeping — for the thousands of dollars he raked in from his sideline work installing pools, building decks and refinishing basements. “My paper skills weren’t the best,” he admitted.
Court heard earlier from a forensic accountant that Ruthowsky’s net worth rose by $25,000 a year while his income fell short of his expenses by an average of more than $16,000. The officer’s purchases included a $26,700 truck, a $11,900 motorcycle. He also put down deposits of more than $36,000 on an Oakville condo and another $22,900 on a Hamilton condo.
Ruthowsky also emphatically denied on Thursday that he had called Mr. X, on another occasion, warning the dealer he’d almost made a kilo-cocaine sale to an undercover officer. “Absolutely not. I have no idea what he’s talking about. Throughout the course of this trial, I’ve heard him say many things.
“At no point in time did I receive any amount of money from (Mr. X) or any of his associates or anyone around his group.”
The trial continues.