Former cop on probation after pleading guilty to gun charge
A former Toronto drug-squad officer who lost his job after being implicated in a police-corruption scandal has racked up another criminal conviction. Nebojsa (Ned) Maodus, 55, pleaded guilty in Ontario court this week to unauthorized possession of a firearm in relation to guns found in his Lakeshore home last year. Maodus was prohibited from having guns as a result of 2007 convictions for assault causing bodily harm, uttering threats and pointing a firearm. Maodus was arrested Nov. 20 after officers searched his home and found three guns — a Charter Arms revolver, an FIE Corp. Titan handgun and a Remington shotgun. A second search — instigated by a call to police by Maodus’s now ex-wife — turned up more guns. Until his release following his guilty plea Tuesday, Maodus had been in jail for more than nine months.
A trial on 14 charges began Monday. On the second day of trial, Maodus agreed to a guilty plea on a single count related to the shotgun.
Maodus was credited 422 days for the 281 days he had spent in jail awaiting trial — the usual enhanced credit afforded inmates denied bail. He will be on probation for the next 12 months and has been ordered to pay a mandatory $200 fine.
Maodus was involved in what was touted as the largest police corruption case in Canadian history. In 1998, Toronto police started an internal investigation into Maodus and four fellow members of the drug squad. In January 2004, the men were charged with conspiracy, extortion, theft and assault for shaking down and beating up a drug dealer.
What ensued was a 15-year legal odyssey that involved a trial, an appeal, a stay of prosecution because of how long the case had dragged through the courts, another appeal and a stay of sentence.
In the end, Maodus served 45 days of what the Ontario Court of Appeal said should have been a three-year sentence had it not taken so much time to bring him to justice.
After losing his job and moving back to Essex County, Maodus was convicted in 2012 of uttering a death threat against his then wife.