More wiretap evidence at the Craig Ruthowsky trial

He was a police informant and afraid his drug dealer friends would find out, that’s what Craig Ruthowsky’s lawyer suggested to the witness on the stand at the Hamilton police officer’s corruption trial today.

Craig ruthowsky was arrested June 4th, 2015, after a conversation he had with a drug dealer was recorded by Toronto police, who had the wires tapped. Prosecutors allege the dealer paid the officer $20 000 a month for for protection. The defence says the dealer was an informant and Ruthowsky was just doing his job as a gangs and weapons detective.

The recorded phone call came after the dealers were confused by a botched drug sale in the parking lot at Sherway Gardens mall. After the exchange of drugs and money, the drug driver went for a burger and police smashed the car window and took the cocaine. The dealer called Ruthowsky to find out if police could have taken their drugs. Here’s part of what Ruthowsky said in that call, Glenn De Caire was chief of police at the time.

Ruthowsky: You’re doing a general search warrant that’s a big project. That’s a lot of time, that’s a lot of money; it involves a judge. It’s like a… it’s kind of a big thing. So I could see Toronto does those types of things and if they’ve got some big, big guy that they want and maybe that guy offloads to this guy and then this guy offloads to your guy, you know they take out your guy, you know kinda thing?

Dealer: right, right I see what you mean

Ruthowsky: um, with a with a general search warrant I can see that.. Hamilton hasn’t done a drug general search warrant in probably ten years.

Dealer: oh really eh?

Ruthowsky: I bet. Yeah they haven’t done one and we were the only ones that started one and they’re super rare uh and the climate it.. the way it is around Hamilton with our chief he hates police work, he hates drug cops and everyone is so afraid to do anything that everyone’s just kinda doing little things, you know kinda thing?

Although the witness disagreed, Ruthowsky’s lawyer said the dealer didn’t really learn anything in that call. He said it was Ruthowsky who was getting good information from the dealer.

“I was never an informant. I was paying him for information so technically he was the informant,” the dealer said on the stand.

Ruthowsky’s lawyer says the dealer came up with story that he was paying Craig Ruthowsky because he was afraid his dealer friends would find out he was an informant. The dealer said he was only afraid that Ruthowsky would falsely tell others he was an informant, he said Ruthowsky had done that before.

The cross examination of the dealer will continue for a fourth straight day tomorrow.