|
Cotler
orders new trial for Driskell | Ewatsky
writes to injusticebusters to defend his corrupt cop | Terry Arnold: Sophonow snitch found
dead in Victoria hotel room March, 2005
Monique
Turenne | Kevin
Tokarchuk | Danny Tokarchuk
| Ewatski writes to
injusticebusters | Loren
Schinkel | Shooting of Matthew
Dumas | Blog
discussion
 New and Explosive: The
Mikolajewski Report (pdf file) exposes the shoddy work done
on the Barbara Stoppel murder investigation and how Jack Ewatski
helped block a proper re-investiagtion to protect a retired inspector
and the secrets a warranted search of his premises would reveal.
Jack Ewatski
From the Winnipeg
Free Press,
April 1, 2005 by Bruce Owen
Key evidence that may have
linked Terry Arnold to the 1981 murder of Barbara Stoppel apparently
went missing before it could be tested for DNA comparison, an
internal police document obtained by the Free Press says. The
evidence includes Stoppel's bra, underwear, shoes, socks and
a discarded tissue believed to contain her killer's mucus, according
to the 17-page report prepared Oct. 16, 2002 by Sgt. Andrew Mikolajewski.
The report focuses on the need
for city hall to create an independent body to oversee sensitive
investigations against police officers so there is no public
perception of interference by senior officers. However, it also
outlines the alleged difficulties Mikolajewski faced in trying
to reinvestigate Stoppel's killing at a time when the police
service was also dealing with a public inquiry into the wrongful
conviction of Thomas Sophonow.
Sophonow was tried three times
for the strangulation of the 16-year-old Stoppel and spent four
years in jail. He was exonerated in June 2000. Mikolajewski alleges
in the report that crucial evidence that could have led to a
murder charge against Arnold may have slipped through investigators'
fingers. Arnold has been considered the prime suspect in Stoppel's
death since 1999. He committed suicide a week ago in Victoria,
B.C.
It was reported Wednesday that
before he killed himself, Arnold was forced to provide a DNA
sample to police. A Victoria police detective said Arnold provided
a blood sample in compliance with a warrant, but wouldn't say
why Arnold's DNA was wanted. "It is my opinion that we were
not thorough in this case, nor did we display a great deal of
integrity," Mikolajewski said in the report. "I do
not believe that I was allowed to do my job. Further, both Barbara
Stoppel and her family have not been served well."
The controversial report has
been kept secret by the Winnipeg Police Service since the day
it was filed. Two independent reviews have found there were no
grounds for criminal or regulatory charges against police Chief
Jack Ewatski and other high-ranking officers.
Those reviews have also not
been publicly released. Stoppel's brother, Rick, said yesterday
he obtained the Mikolajewski report from an anonymous source
after he did a TV interview Tuesday on his sister's case. He
said he released it to the media to show how police failed to
properly investigate his sister's slaying in a St. Boniface doughnut
shop Dec. 23, 1981.
"It's been nothing but
a waste of time," he said. He and others said the issue
of the missing evidence was known five years ago, but it never
became public because police didn't want to tip off Arnold. They
wanted him to think they had something on him so he'd confess.
But in his three-page suicide
note, the 42-year-old convicted pedophile denied killing anyone
and blamed the media for his woes. Rick Stoppel and police sources
say now that Arnold is dead, there is no reason why details of
the missing evidence and Mikolajewski's report can't be released.
Ewatski said yesterday he was surprised an internal police document
addressed only to him would find its way into Stoppel's hands.
He also defended his own and
the department's handling of the Arnold investigation and said
the allegations of interference made by Mikolajewski were later
shown to be without merit. "The allegations made against
me and the others were groundless," he said.
Specifically, Mikolajewski's
report details his frustration in trying to get a search warrant
to look for unspecified exhibits in the Stoppel case and to get
permission to interview Arnold, who at the time was serving a
life term for murder.
"The importance of obtaining
a warrant and retrieving the exhibits cannot be over stressed
since they may provide the offenders DNA (sic)," Mikolajewski
said in the report.
Later in the report, Mikolajewski
lists some of the more important exhibits outstanding in the
case: Stoppel's bra, underwear, shoes, socks and the used Kleenex.
To date, they have not been accounted for, according to sources.
Ewatski said yesterday he was not prepared to talk about what
evidence is missing in the case.
In the report, Mikolajewski
does not accuse anyone of destroying or misplacing the items.
He was unavailable for comment yesterday. Mikolajewski also said
in the report that the Arnold investigation was hindered by the
inquiry headed by retired Supreme Court judge Peter Cory into
Sophonow's wrongful conviction, which started in the summer of
2000.
He said that because of the
inquiry, there was a five-month delay in questioning Arnold.
In his report, Cory blamed police "tunnel vision" for
wrongly targeting Sophonow when evidence at the time pointed
to Arnold. Days after Mikolajewski sent in his report, the Doer
government asked retired Ontario Appeal Court judge Patrick Galligan
to see if there was any basis for criminal charges, such as obstruction
of justice against Ewatski and his then-executive assistant,
Insp. Bob Hall. A month later Galligan said there was not. The
City of Winnipeg's former chief administrative officer, Gail
Stephens, also asked accounting firm Deloitte and Touche for
an internal review of the police service's professional standards
unit, which investigates police wrongdoing. --bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca
Kevin Tokarchuk
was shot to death in his family's garage in May 2003 | The
chief's video message
Winnipeg police
under scrutiny
Police Chief Jack Ewatski has
acknowleged the cops he fired had taped lawyers talking with
their clients. The fired cops have brought their case before
a labour arbitration board.
Presumably these cops were
not doing anything that other cops don't do.
Ewatski, like Saskatoon Police
Chief Sabo, claims to subscribe to the policy of "community
policing." The PR would seem to be quite different from
the actions. Look at the case of Brenda
Campbell.
Of course it is the coldblooded
murder of Kevin Tokarchuk
which has brought some of their nefarious activities to light.
Kevin was killed by drug-dealers because his brother had failed
to pay a debt. The Winnipeg police were aware that Kevin was
in danger but did nothing to warn the family.
Loren Schinkel is head of the
police union which apparently thinks that the lawyer-taping cops
were unfairly treated. Schinkel should know. He manufactured
a nine page
"confession" statement which he secretly provided
to Florida police so they could indict her for murder. Turenne
exhausted all her efforts to avoid extradition to Florida and
instead be tried in Canada.
In Canada, she could call Schinkel
to the witness stand and have his actions cross-examined. In
Florida, they apparently accept a perjured affidavit of a corrupt
cop.
Of course, how could they know
the man is a perjurer? He has the ear of Chief Ewatski who actually
wrote to injusticebusters
to defend him.
Internal
police report must remain confidential: chief
CBC, Jan 18, 2005
WINNIPEG - Winnipeg Police Chief Jack Ewatski
has refused to release an internal police report to a labour
board hearing into the treatment of several police officers who
were put on administrative leave.
The hearing was called in the
aftermath of the death of Kevin Tokarchuk, 24, who was shot to
death in May 2003 in what's believed to be a gang-related revenge
killing.
Eight officers were put on
paid leave for seven months after allegations surfaced that they
had information about a plot to kill Tokarchuk, but failed to
warn him or his family. All of the officers were eventually cleared
of any criminal wrongdoing, and two have since retired. Some
of the officers have filed a grievance against the city, saying
putting them on leave, the length of time they were on leave,
and their placement after leave was unreasonable and unfair.
Much of the hearing so far
has focused on a report compiled by the Winnipeg Police Service's
professional standards unit shortly after the allegations were
made. To date, police administration has been unwilling to release
the report because it says it contains information that could
identify a confidential police source.
On Monday, Police Chief Jack
Ewatski referred to the report, but wouldn't divulge its contents.
He said taped conversations between police and an informant,
police officers' notes and a tape of a lawyer/client conversation
are in the report.
Ewatski said he put the officers
on leave to maintain the integrity of the internal investigation.
"I wanted to emphasize
and reinforce the fact that this action taken by the service
was not done to punish, embarrass or discredit these members,"
he said.
Lawyers for the Winnipeg Police
Association the union that represents police officers
say they can't continue without seeing the report themselves.
No one has been arrested for
Tokarchuk's shooting, which is believed to be related to the
killing of a biker-gang member exactly one year earlier. In November
2004, Tokarchuk's brother was convicted of second-degree murder
for that man's killing.
Officers taped
lawyer-client conversation: police chief
WINNIPEG.CBC.CA, Jan 19,
2005
 WINNIPEG
- Winnipeg's legal community is still buzzing over a bombshell
dropped by Police Chief Jack Ewatski in testimony before a hearing
on Monday.
During the labour board arbitration
hearing into a grievance by six Winnipeg police officers who
were put on administrative leave after allegations surfaced that
they had information about a plot to kill a Winnipeg man, Kevin
Tokarchuk, but failed to warn the man or his family. Tokarchuk
was killed in May 2003.
On Monday, Ewatski said officers
may also have committed a criminal act: "To be more specific,
the videotaping of a privileged and private communication between
a lawyer and a client."
After an investigation, a Crown
attorney from Alberta recommended the officers not be charged,
but defence lawyers like Jay Prober are fuming over the revelation.
"It's frightening, quite
frankly, that it happened," says Prober. "It's illegal,
it's criminal, it's contrary to the Criminal Code, it breaches
the Charter of Rights and it certainly flies in the face of the
police's own procedure."
Last June, the Manitoba's Crown
stayed charges against five Hells Angels after concerns about
police actions.
Four months before that trial
ended, Crown attorney Bob Morrison sent defence lawyers a letter,
saying police officers may have acted improperly in dealing with
a police informant.
Morrison wrote the officers'
conduct was arguably unethical, in breach of internal police
regulations, in breach of the Charter, and in one respect, arguably
criminal.
No one involved in the case
would say whether the actions of officers involved in the Hells
Angels case are linked to the Tokarchuk investigation.
Chief Ewatski he will face
cross-examination at the arbitration hearing on Wednesday.
Chief stands
firm, refuses to divulge documents
CBC, Jan 20, 2005
WINNIPEG - Winnipeg's police chief refuses to
turn over documents he used when he placed eight officers on
leave.
Jack Ewatski was back on the witness stand Wednesday at the arbitration
hearing looking into his decision.
Over and over, police union
lawyer Keith LaBossiere demanded Ewatski make the documents public,
but Ewatski replied that would be illegal.
"We are not going to,
as a police service, break the law in this matter by releasing
information that could identify this informant," he said.
"Would you suggest that we break the law to do so?"
LaBossiere filed a motion that
the union should win the grievance because Ewatski is being un-cooperative.
He claims it's impossible to properly cross-examine the chief
without the key documents.
Arbitrator Gavin Wood has made
no decision on the motion.
The officers were put on paid
leave during an investigation of their conduct. They allegedly
learned in advance about a plot to kill Kevin Tokarchuk in retaliation
for a murder his brother was eventually convicted of committing.
The hearing continues today.
Ewatski can't
lose cloud: Police chief again under scrutiny in murder cases
By Bruce Owen, Winnipeg
Free Press, December 29, 2003
The new year finds Winnipeg
police Chief Jack Ewatski in the same spot he was in this time
last year - under a cloud.
Last year, it was a report
by a junior officer that accused Ewatski and senior officers
of interfering in sensitive investigations, including the one
looking into the wrongful conviction of Thomas Sophonow for the
still unsolved 1981 murder of Barbara Stoppel.
An independent review of the
officer's concerns later exonerated Ewatski and the way he runs
his police force.
Now, the murder of Kevin Tokarchuk
is hanging over the chief's head. Tokarchuk was shot dead May
12 in a suspected gang revenge killing. A few days later, an
allegation from within the police service surfaced in the media
that officers may have been warned about Tokarchuk's death, but
took no action.
It's alleged an informant told officers of a plot to kill Tokarchuk,
but that no one told Tokarchuk or his family about it.
Ewatski put eight officers
on paid leave - they returned to work before Christmas - as investigators
began looking at whether there was any merit to the allegation,
and if so, whether any internal police procedures were broken.
Meanwhile, Tokarchuk's killer remains free.
Also hanging over the chief
is criticism that he did nothing to make known evidence that
could have helped James Driskell win a new trial as early as
1993.
Ewatski purportedly had evidence
that one of the witnesses against Driskell at his 1991 murder
trial had a secret immunity deal, a deal that was not disclosed
to the jury. Driskell was only released on bail by a judge a
month ago. A decision on a new trial is expected soon.
Ewatski's roles in the Tokarchuk
affair and the Driskell case will play themselves out over the
course of 2004.
Thrown into this is the fact
Ewatski has yet to renew his contract with the city. He is now
almost into his third month working without a new contract -
the one he signed more than five years ago expired Nov. 3.
All he will say about it is
that he is still in discussions with the city - nothing other
than that has changed.
The one thing he will say unequivocally
is this perceived delay has absolutely nothing to do with the
new collective agreement for rank-and-file police.
That agreement is now in the
hands of arbitrator Arne Peltz. At the opening of the public
arbitration hearing Oct. 30, Winnipeg Police Association lawyer
Bill Olson said the union believed Ewatski was going to get a
$30,000.00 raise in his new contract, going from $150,000.00
to $180,000.
The thinking at city hall was
that spin doctors, there are more spin docs at city hall and
the police service than ever before - decided to delay Ewatski's
contract announcement until well after Peltz handed down the
retroactive two-year deal for rank-and-file officers, which will
probably be some time in early February.
The reason is that the city
would be embarrassed if news broke of them paying Ewatski that
much while at the same time the union complained of over-worked
junior constables needing GST rebate cheques to buy groceries.
Besides finding out in the
new year whether Ewatski will still be chief, police will also
learn if and when they'll start to get new district buildings.
Ewatski said a report will
be tabled at city hall some time in April that will outline a
timetable on how the police service and the city can best proceed
with the reorganization under a four-district pla, renovating
the outside of the downtown Public Safety Building, and the creation
of a 911 emergency back-up call centre.
The four-district model will
reduce the police operating districts from six, and result in
three new police buildings being built in east Winnipeg, the
north end and south Winnipeg.
Ewatski has said the new buildings
are needed to accommodate male and female officers in more modern
surroundings.
Second, the Tyndall stone exterior
of the PSB is falling off. The plan now is to move several investigative
units from the five-storey Princess Street building as workers
renovate one side of the building at a time.
With that, the 911 centre has
to move out of the building during the entire construction. Emergency
calls can't be properly handled with jack-hammering in the next
room.
The city hopes to create a
911 backup centre, likely somewhere out of the downtown, to house
the call-takers and dispatchers so there is no interruption of
emergency services. This facility would become a permanent backup,
so that if the downtown is ever evacuated, call-takers and dispatchers
could leave the PSB and continue working.
The other thing that will happen
in the new year - perhaps the most important thing - is that
the war on organized crime will continue, unseen for the most
part, but effective all the same.
An example of that is how quickly
the gang unit recovered a handgun stolen out of a city police
officer's vehicle last Oct. 10. Within four days, the gang unit
chased down the gun and the thieves responsible for taking it
before it could be used in a crime.
Also, a joint Winnipeg police-RCMP
unit is quietly working out of a secret location gathering evidence
against the drug gangs, most notably the Hells Angels, that bring
about 100 kilos of cocaine a month into the city and fuel the
growing crack cocaine trade.
Investigators have already
arrested several high-profile gang associates, specifically members
of the Zig Zag Crew and LHS (Loyalty, Honour and Silence), and
charged them with a variety of gang and drug conspiracy charges.
While arrests haven't plugged
the flow of cocaine and marijuana into the city, they have reduced
the level of gang and drug-related violence on the street.
Ewatski said the Winnipeg police
and RCMP hope to co-operate more in the new year, taking a page
from the hugely successful integrated child exploitation unit
in which officers snoop out child pornography on the Internet.
Ewatski said the same success
could be duplicated in bringing officers together to work on
unsolved cases, like homicides, and keeping track of the growing
list of high-risk sexual offenders.
bruce.owen@freepress.mb.ca
|
Truth can never be told so as to be understood,
and not be believ'd.