A 海角社区官网cop who counselled the manager of his Weston Road income property to lie to police and repeatedly leaked personal information about members of the public has been sentenced to six months of house arrest.
The decision was handed to Const. Ricardo Gomez by Superior Court Justice Jane Kelly on Wednesday after Gomez pleaded guilty to one count of breach of trust last November.
The case centred around a commercial property that Gomez owned and rented to tenants, including an auto shop and 12 rooming-house units on the second floor.
In her decision, Kelly summarized an agreed statement of facts detailing how Gomez repeatedly shared confidential police records by text with his property manager, Joseph Issa, between November 2020 and January 2021.
Those texts came to light after Issa was arrested in Montreal in September 2021; Gomez was arrested three months later and has been on paid leave since his arrest. (At the time of his arrest, provincial law prevented Ontario police services from suspending officers without pay, unless they had been convicted of a crime and sentenced to jail.)
In 2024 alone, he just over $122,000 while suspended.
The property on Weston Road.
Google Street ViewThe officer, with more than 20 years of experience, was initially charged with four counts of breach of trust, two counts of unauthorized use of a computer and one count of mischief.
Kelly found that Gomez attended the Weston property 47 times between December 2020 and 2021 while on duty, often declining to tell the service about his whereabouts on visits that had nothing to do with his duties.
While there was no evidence that Gomez had profited financially or otherwise by providing information to Issa, Kelly found that his actions constituted 鈥渟everal breaches of trust in various forms.鈥
In one instance, Issa texted Gomez, who was off-duty at the time, a number of photographs of the building vandalized with spray paint. The property manager was then provided with information from a police report, accessed by one of Gomez鈥檚 colleagues, concerning a male member of the public.
Gomez offered a number of 鈥渟uggestions鈥 to Issa on how to deal with the issue, including lying to police and telling them the man had threatened him, or getting a tenant of the building to do the same.
His final suggestion, the court heard, was that Issa report the man to police to have him assessed 鈥渦nder the Mental Health Act.鈥
An excerpt from Gomez’s instructions on what Issa should tell police investigators.
Ontario Superior Court ExhibitJust over a week later, a fire broke out on the second floor of the building. Gomez attended the scene voluntarily, collected personal information of a number of displaced tenants and sent the information to Issa, along with video evidence of the fire, without authorization.
In another incident, Gomez counselled Issa on how to 鈥渞eplace the ownership鈥 on a Volkswagen car, first passing on the owner鈥檚 personal information and address and then, when pressed by Issa, the owner鈥檚 driver鈥檚 licence number.
鈥淚 can鈥檛 get replacement for the ownership without it,鈥 Issa texted the officer, who used his police credentials to retrieve the information from ministry databases.
Issa then replaced the vehicle鈥檚 ownership, according to the agreed statement of facts.
Lawyers for Gomez had asked Kelly for a conditional discharge, meaning Gomez would accept a finding of guilt but not be convicted or receive a criminal record. Kelly rejected the submission, however, finding it would not 鈥渁dequately provide for general deterrence or denunciation.鈥
Gomez鈥檚 daughters, present in court on Wednesday, described him as 鈥渢he best dad鈥 in letters of support penned to the judge. Gomez鈥檚 colleagues also expressed their support for the officer, calling him a 鈥渕odel colleague鈥 and 鈥渕an of integrity鈥 in letters of their own.聽
Speaking to the Star in the courtroom on Wednesday, defence counsel Calvin Barry described Kelly鈥檚 decision as unfortunate but 鈥渨ell-reasoned.鈥
鈥淚鈥檝e known Gomez since I was a Crown Attorney and he was at 12 Division. He鈥檚 a great police officer,鈥 Barry said. 鈥淚t was a tough day for him and his family.鈥
Barry said he plans to review the sentencing with Gomez before determining if they will seek an appeal.
For the first three months of his sentence, Gomez has been ordered to remain inside his residence, except in select circumstances or with the written permission of his supervisor. The remaining three months, Gomez must adhere to a curfew between 12 p.m. to 6 a.m. with the same exceptions in place. He has also been ordered to refrain from contacting Issa for the duration of his sentence.
He is separately facing five counts of professional misconduct under Ontario鈥檚 Police Services Act.
As of Wednesday, Gomez remains employed with 海角社区官网police, pending his disciplinary hearing on those charges.
A date has not yet been set for the officer to appear before the tribunal.聽
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