Arranging sting for marijuana use “outlandish”
It was “outlandish” for the Waterloo Regional Police to arrange a sting involving more than a dozen officers to investigate marijuana use, Toronto criminal lawyer Richard Niman says in a recent article in the Waterloo Region Record. Read Waterloo Region Record
Const. Andrew Robson has admitted he stole two ounces of the drug after it was turned over to him in the fall of 2010 by an undercover officer posing as a distraught mother who had found it in her home, the Record reports.
The investigation was sparked by a memorandum outlining concerns from one of Robson’s immediate bosses to the officer who was second in command in Cambridge, the article says.
Niman, representing Robson, challenged the legality of a sting to see if Robson would steal drugs on the job when he was only suspected of marijuana use outside work, the Record reports. Niman also notes that the technique is called a “reverse” sting, where the police attempt to traffic to a suspect instead of having the suspect traffic to them.
Toronto criminal lawyer Jamie Yoon is also counsel to Robson, and questioned whether support was offered by Robson’s co-workers as he faced disturbing incidents on the job, the newspaper reports.
At the hearing, the Record reports, Robson explained several stressful incidents, including being surrounded by an angry mob outside a bar and having to shoot and kill a rabid dog in a residential area.
“After you returned to work, did anybody ask how you were doing,” the report says Yoon asked. “Nope,” Robson answered.
Niman and Yoon, both associates with Brauti Thorning Zibarras, say their client, who is facing drug and theft charges, developed post-traumatic stress disorder arising from his job and had marijuana and alcohol problems as a result.
The entrapment hearing is scheduled to resume with legal arguments before Justice Jeanine LeRoy in November, the Record reports.
