A self-admitted cocaine dealer facing a “formidable” case has been cut loose by a judge who found Toronto police stole about $6,000 in cash seized from his Weston Road apartment.
“I am satisfied on a balance of probabilities that the money was taken by one or more police officers involved in the investigation,” Justice Andras Schreck wrote in a pretrial ruling released Wednesday.
Because Andrew Rocha’s charter rights were violated, Schreck agreed to a defence request to stay his charges of drug trafficking and possessing the proceeds of crime, meaning he will not face further prosecution.
“The justice system worked as it should — because the rest of the system in this case certainly didn’t,” defence lawyer Kim Schofield said on Wednesday.
Toronto police officers raided Rocha’s apartment on Feb. 6, 2019, seizing $19,390 and a half-kilogram of cocaine. Rocha later told Schofield some $6,000 was unaccounted for between the seizure at the apartment and the contraband’s arrival at the police station.
Read more at