No charges for cops in misconduct probe
VPD officers part of case involving pimps, ex-colleague
In a bizarre development, the B.C. Prosecution Service revealed only on Wednesday that a special prosecutor was appointed three years ago to help investigate allegations of misconduct by officers of the Vancouver Police Department.
The news release also said that special prosecutor has concluded criminal charges are not warranted against three VPD officers who were accused of misconduct during an internal investigation of a colleague on the VPD’s counter exploitation unit, James Fisher. Fisher was jailed in 2018.
The prosecution service said that since Aug. 29, 2017, Vancouver lawyer Joseph Doyle has been assisting RCMP officers investigating the VPD officers’ conduct.
The conviction of Fisher and the accusations against his former colleagues have raised doubts about the high-profile convictions of several Metro Vancouver pimps investigated by the counter exploitation unit.
In the news release, the prosecution service said that Doyle informed Peter Juk, an assistant deputy attorney general, on May 30 that he had decided the charge assessment standard had not been met and he would not approve criminal charges against the three officers.
“The announcement of the appointment of the special prosecutor and his conclusions regarding charge assessment have been delayed, as several related matters are pending, including a conduct investigation of the officers under the Police Act,” the release said.
Juk explained, that in July 2017, the B.C. Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner requested an investigation into “allegations of serious misconduct … possibly criminal in nature” against the three officers.
The VPD declined a request for comment except to say the three officers reportedly investigated — constables Adam King, Zach Guy and Silvana Burtini — “are employees.”
Mounties from Alberta were assigned to investigate and the director of police services asked for a special prosecutor to be appointed because provincial prosecutors were involved in prosecuting the VPD cases against the pimps and the case against Fisher.
Fisher was a key investigator in the case against notorious pimp Reza Moazami, who was jailed in 2011 on dozens of charges of sexual interference and pimping involving girls and women ranging in age from 14 to 19. In 2015, Moazami was sentenced to 23 years in prison — reduced to 17 years and 339 days because of time served — and later received an additional three years for attempting in 2012 to bribe one of his young victims.
Fisher, the disgraced, decorated veteran of 29 years, pleaded guilty to breach of trust and sexual exploitation in 2018 and was sentenced to 20 months in jail. He admitted kissing two witnesses who were involved in pimping and sexual trafficking cases he was investigating. The high bench denied his appeal in February 2019 and said that for his victims, Fisher’s attempts to seek sexual favours from them represented a breach of trust “of the highest order.”
But Moazami, who has also filed a civil lawsuit against the ex-cop and the city, has alleged in his appeals that Fisher’s misconduct involved far more women and was far more serious than Fisher admitted, including having sex with witnesses against Moazami. Moazami alleged that misconduct tainted the case against him.
Through his lawyer, Fisher has denied Moazami’s accusations and insisted his misconduct was restricted solely to the behaviour he admitted to.
Two other pimps, Kasra Mohsenipour and Tamim Albashir, have also appealed their convictions, alleging serious misconduct by Fisher, who was instrumental in their convictions two years ago.
And accusations of misconduct against Fisher’s three colleagues were raised earlier this year at the B.C. Supreme Court trial, which is still underway, of accused pimp Omar Alameddin.
Doyle was provided with the RCMP report to the Crown on Aug. 7, 2019, and he received further material in December, the prosecution service said.
The prosecution service and the special prosecutor said they will be releasing no additional information nor commenting further while any Police Act investigation of the officers is carried out and the pimps’ appeals are decided.
Once all related matters are concluded, the release stated the special prosecutor will release a clear statement summarizing his conclusions.