Craig Ruthowsky, Hamilton cop arrested in Toronto gang bust, facing more charges
Veteran officer is in court Thursday for a bail review
A Hamilton Police Service officer arrested in a Toronto Police gang bust in June is facing additional charges of bribery and attempt to obstruct justice.
Craig Ruthowsky, 41, was in court Thursday attempting to overturn the decision made after his arrest to deny him bail. He has been in custody since his June 4 arrest.
Thursday's bail review hearing in Superior Court did not finish by the end of the day and will extend into Friday. At the end of the Thursday appearance, Ruthowsky blew a kiss first to his mother and then to his wife, both of whom were in court for the proceeding.
The former guns and gangs squad officer was originally arrested on charges related to allegations of cocaine trafficking and aiding a gang which stem from incidents alleged to have happened while he was on paid suspension.
Before the afternoon court session started, he spoke briefly with his mother over the glass of prisoner's box. She asked how he was sleeping, which he replied in a soft voice that he wasn't at all.
However the worried look on Ruthowsky's face shifted to relief and excited handshakes with his lawyers at the end of Thursday's proceedings, the details of which are under a publication ban.
Crown counsel John Pollard confirmed the additional charges of bribery and attempt to obstruct justice against Ruthowsky. The charges were laid after his original arrest. It's not clear when the incidents that led to the new charges are alleged to have happened.
He is currently in custody and is now facing the following six charges:
- Bribery
- Obstruct justice
- Breach of trust
- Conspiracy to commit an indictable (traffic cocaine)
- Participate in activities of a criminal organization
- Commission of an indictable offence for a criminal organization
Ruthowsky's wife Christine Ruthowsky — who is herself a long serving member of the Hamilton Police Service — declined to comment when approached by CBC Hamilton.
Toronto criminal defense lawyer Greg Lafontaine, who has also been retained by Ruthowsky, joined Ruthowsky's lawyer, Bernard Cummins, Thursday.
The details of Ruthowsky's bail review, and the two-day initial bail hearing from June 8 to 9, are under a publication ban.
Ruthowsky was arrested when Toronto Police executed 50 search warrants across the GTHA. The series of coordinated dawn arrests on June 4 gather up 45 individuals who were facing a combined 379 charges.
The year-and-a-half long investigation, called Project Pharaoh, focused on a Toronto gang, the Monstarz, which operates primarily in northwestern Toronto, according to police.
Ruthowsky is a 17-year veteran of the police service, had been suspended with pay since June 2012 because of unrelated, but similar, charges laid under the Ontario Police Act. He is no longer suspended.