海角社区官网

It was the police, and Chen was under arrest 鈥� but he had no idea why. He was charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking and production of methamphetamine, then released that afternoon pending trial.

鈥淚 did not know what Methamphetamine was until I was released from the police custody and had to use Google to find out,鈥� Chen, who goes by Stephen, later told the court.

The Scarborough house was one of 14 GTA locations that police raided that day to uproot an alleged drug trafficking network. It was the culmination of 鈥�Project Crowthorne,鈥� a 13-month-long investigation led by the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

In the bust, police seized about 20 kilograms of methamphetamine, 100 kilograms of ephedrine, 200,000 suspected MDMA pills, one ounce of cocaine, and $500,000, the OPP said in a news release, though none of it came from Chen鈥檚 home. They arrested 12 people.

Chen said his arrest cost him his job and upended his life, forcing him on a two-year saga to convince the justice system that he was a victim of mistaken identity.

Hundreds of pages of police records and court documents, the trial鈥檚 transcripts and audio recordings, along with interviews of people involved in the case reveal that investigators ignored evidence of Chen鈥檚 innocence, insisting he was the right man on tenuous grounds.

Police also failed to investigate an alternate suspect until well into his trial, despite Chen鈥檚 repeated assertions that one of his roommates 鈥� who had a history of drug charges 鈥� was the man they were looking for.

Chen represented himself during his September 2022 trial, but Paula Rochman, a lawyer appointed by the court to ensure fair proceedings, told the Star that it was clear that the police鈥檚 identification 鈥渁ppeared to be deeply flawed.鈥� In court, she said their investigation was 鈥渆xtremely minimal.鈥�

鈥淗e had suffered so much, as a completely law-abiding person, to be dragged into something he had nothing to do with, and he was adversely affected in terms of employment,鈥� Rochman said in an interview. 鈥淗e paid a price for something he didn’t do.鈥�

Chen, now 61, remains unemployed. He has filed two lawsuits against Project Crowthorne police forces, as well as the Ontario and federal governments. Chen asked for nearly $20 million in each case, claiming damages caused by law enforcement鈥檚 鈥渘egligent investigation.鈥澛燭he Ontario government and two police forces have told the court they intend to file defences.

The OPP declined to answer the Star鈥檚 questions. 鈥淎s matters relating to Project Crowthorne are currently before the courts, it would not be appropriate for the OPP to provide a response,鈥� Staff Sergeant Jeffrey Del Guidice said in an email.

A black Cadillac outside a suspected meth lab

Chen鈥檚 troubles started on April 29, 2020, when then-Detective Constable Troy Phillips and his team were conducting covert surveillance outside a suspected methamphetamine production lab in Etobicoke.

At 6:26 p.m., Phillips saw an Asian man drive a black Cadillac Escalade into the parking lot and enter the building. In handwritten notes, he described the suspect as being 45-50 years old with black hair, a stocky build and wearing black pants and a grey jacket.

Phillips followed him to the Scarborough house, where Chen lived at the time with eight roommates.

Chen鈥檚 car, a black Chevrolet Cobalt, was in the driveway. This is what first connected him to the investigation, even though police said that vehicle was 鈥渦ninvolved鈥� in the case.

Phillips checked Ministry of Transportation (MTO) records for the Chevrolet and its owner, Chen, and thought he was the man behind the Cadillac鈥檚 wheel. 鈥淚 viewed MTO photo,鈥� Phillips wrote in his notes. 鈥淲earing same jacket in MTO photo as well as same face.鈥�

The next morning, April 30, Phillips started surveillance at the Scarborough house. He followed the Cadillac as the suspect did errands, including a stop at a CIBC branch ATM at 2:35 p.m.

One evening a few days later, investigators saw him unload from the Cadillac two blue jugs “consistent with Hypophosphorous Acid,鈥� a used in the production of methamphetamine.

These observations formed the basis of the case against Chen.

Chen, however, said he never drove that Cadillac, had never been to the Etobicoke meth lab, had never met any of the other targets of Project Crowthorne and did not have an account with the CIBC. He offered multiple ways for law enforcement to check his whereabouts against those of the driver.

It made no difference to the police.

Race played role in misidentification, Chen alleges

In July 2021, more than a year after his arrest, Chen met with Phillips and Detective Sergeant Daniel Amerlinck at the OPP鈥檚 海角社区官网detachment. In his notes, Phillips made it clear he did not want to be there: 鈥淚 advised Chen I still believe it was him and I was only in attendance because DSgt Amerlinck is my supervisor and told me I had to meet w Chen,鈥� who had asked for the meeting. Nonetheless, Phillips said in a later affidavit, 鈥淚 would make every attempt to investigate any other potential persons or alibies which he made offer鈥� [sic].

Chen said he had an alibi: he was at work during daytime surveillance. 鈥淗e was @ the office 30 Apr during the time of me seeing him,鈥� Phillips noted, and told Chen he would check with his employer.

In his correspondence with TCHC, in an affidavit and in court, however, Phillips made no mention of April 30, 2020. He focused on April 29, when surveillance was conducted after business hours, and TCHC told him that Chen used his keyfob at 9:15 a.m. that day.

In his affidavit, Phillips concluded: 鈥淚 found no evidence to suggest that Mr. CHEN was at his place of employment during the surveillance detail when he was observed and identified by me.鈥�

Screenshots provided by Chen to the Star show that he sent several work emails between 9:45 a.m. and 3:36 p.m. on April 30, while Phillips was following the Cadillac. Chen also maintained a diary, with notes on that morning鈥檚 鈥� 10掳 Celsius, light rain 鈥� COVID-19 cases updates and work-related tasks.

There were other ways for police to rule him out, Chen said, including: checking his GPS location through his phone on the night of April 29, obtaining a record of the April 30 ATM transaction by the suspect, and searching his electronic devices for connections with other targets.

At trial, Chen cross-examined Phillips, asking if the investigator had done any of these things. 鈥淚 did not,鈥� Phillips repeated, unfazed. Neither had any of his colleagues, as far as he knew. Crown prosecutor Althea Francis said that even though police kept Chen鈥檚 work and personal phones for 14 months after his arrest, they never searched the devices.

Chen believes race played a role in his misidentification. 鈥淐omparing photographs or video images taken surreptitiously with MTO photographs is not a reliable means of identifying a person,鈥� he wrote in a statement of claim. 鈥淭his is particularly true in the case of Asian faces which are much more likely to be misidentified than white faces in any case. The Plaintiff was a victim of systemic and institutional racial discrimination in the criminal justice system.鈥�

Decades of have that people have a difficult time identifying and remembering the faces of individuals of a different race. This phenomenon has had 鈥渁 profound impact on the criminal justice system,鈥� one says, including many wrongful convictions later overturned thanks to DNA evidence. 鈥淧ut simply, cross-race eyewitness identifications are prone to failure with shocking frequency,鈥� the study says.

Another suspect in Project Crowthorne was initially misidentified, police acknowledged in a report. It is not clear which investigator made that identification.

But Phillips, who is white, was still 鈥�100% confident it was him鈥� after meeting Chen in person, his notes say. He declined to answer the Star鈥檚 questions. Amerlinck, his supervisor, also declined to comment.

Alternate suspect went uninvestigated for two years

Chen said he first told police when he was arrested in 2020 that the driver of the Cadillac was one of his roommates, a man he knew as 鈥淢r. Wu.鈥� But the Cadillac was registered to a 71-year-old man named Chi-Yuen Ng who lives near the Scarborough rooming house.

In an interview with the Star, Ng said he met Wu through a common friend six or seven years ago and they had dim sum together, but they haven鈥檛 kept in touch. Ng has suffered a stroke since then, and said his memories of Wu, whom he recognized from a picture, are vague.

But he remembered Wu鈥檚 vehicle. 鈥淚 know he鈥檚 driving a Cadillac, but not my own,鈥� he said. Ng said he never owned a Cadillac and suspects someone used his personal information to buy it. He did not remember the exact colour or model of Wu鈥檚 Cadillac.

When shown a photograph of Chen, Ng said he did not recognize him. He said the police did not reach out to him to confirm any of this.

Chen again mentioned Wu to investigators during their 2021 meeting, when he described his former roommate as roughly 10 kilograms heavier, six years younger and three to four inches shorter than himself. Chen provided their landlord鈥檚 contact information to help Phillips and Amerlinck track him down.

But it took another year before police performed a criminal record check on Wu. In court, the Crown said police did the search in the days before the September 2022 trial. Francis said confusion about Wu鈥檚 full name prevented an earlier search, but 鈥渢he officers have done their due diligence with the information that was given, and I have as well,鈥� she told the judge.

Wu鈥檚 criminal record report shows he has a history of drug-related charges, including a 2006 conviction of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Police, however, did not further pursue this lead until Rochman, the court-appointed lawyer, suggested they do so at the end of Chen鈥檚 second day of trial. Justice Gillian Roberts agreed. 鈥淢r. Chen shouldn’t have to continue with the trial until he knows the fruits of this further investigation,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t’s unfair for Mr. Chen to press on while we don’t know the outcome of this investigation.鈥�

The next morning, Francis told the court that Amerlinck, the OPP sergeant, tried to contact Wu at his latest known address and by phone, to no avail.

Chen said Wu left the Scarborough house shortly after the 2020 raid. The Star is not publishing Wu鈥檚 full name because there is no indication that he was ever charged for the Cadillac driver鈥檚 alleged crimes relating to the meth lab. Two lawyers who represented Wu in a previous case did not respond to requests for comment.

Life upended by arrest

Chen still lives with the repercussions of the OPP鈥檚 cursory investigation.

In May 2020, less than three weeks after his arrest, Chen received a letter from his employer stating that he was 鈥渢erminated without cause鈥� after nearly four years of service. TCHC spokesperson Kimberly Moser declined to elaborate on his dismissal or attendance.

Chen got severance pay, then collected the pandemic鈥檚 Canada Emergency Response Benefit and employment insurance for about a year. Since then, he has been living on his savings, barely making ends meet. 鈥淚 can keep my head above the water if there are no extra expenses,鈥� he said.

On the third day of trial, the prosecutor changed her mind about Chen鈥檚 case. 鈥淥vernight, the Crown has had an opportunity to review quite extensively some of the potential areas of concern,鈥� Francis said, and asked for the charges against him to be stayed.

She declined to answer the Star鈥檚 questions.

In an email, Public Prosecution Service of Canada spokesperson Nathalie Houle said the Crown assesses cases to determine 鈥渨hether there remains a reasonable prospect of conviction and whether proceeding is in the public interest.鈥� In this case, the 鈥渟tandard for prosecution鈥� was no longer met, she said, but declined to say why.

After granting the stay, Justice Roberts wished Chen good luck. 鈥淚 have to say, you did an excellent job representing yourself,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e free to go.鈥�