Toronto Police Service chief Myron Demkiw speaks during a press conference about Project South, at York Regional Police headquarters on Feb. 5.Jon Blacker/The Canadian Press
A Toronto man named as a central player in a police corruption investigation that has shaken Ontario’s criminal justice system was set to stand trial for cocaine trafficking three years ago, until the case was suddenly dropped.
The prosecution of Brian Da Costa collapsed in early 2023 when the federal Crown stayed charges against him without providing a reason in court, according to an official recording of the proceeding. The move followed an application by the defence in which it argued the investigation could have violated Mr. Da Costa’s Charter rights.
Crown attorney Chris Walsh declined to explain the decision when contacted by The Globe and Mail, saying the Crown routinely withholds reasons for staying prosecutions, sometimes to protect continuing investigations or confidential informants. He added that the stay in this case was not because of delays or any relationship between Mr. Da Costa and police.
Mr. Da Costa was arrested in May, 2019 after Toronto police raided his west-end apartment and found six bricks of cocaine stashed in the oven and $12,640 in cash, according to courtroom audio recordings. He was charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of money obtained through crime.
Mr. Da Costa was identified by police as “Target One” in the 2019 investigation, which involved extensive covert surveillance by drug squad officers. Police said they saw him meet several times with the second target of the probe – a man who was later charged with cocaine trafficking after a separate investigation by Halton police.
Today, Mr. Da Costa is again an accused drug trafficker. Officials say he is at the centre of the police corruption case known as Project South, a sprawling investigation announced by York Regional Police earlier this month in which seven Toronto police officers and one former officer were charged. Mr. Da Costa is among 19 civilians who were also charged in the probe.
York Regional Police Deputy Chief Ryan Hogan told reporters Mr. Da Costa was a “key figure” in a “criminal network operating within the Greater Toronto Area with ... significant international ties.” (The force declined to provide further details about the network.)
Investigators say Mr. Da Costa worked closely with Toronto Police Constable Timothy Barnhardt. They allege the two men gave confidential information about a corrections officer to hitmen, who conspired to murder him last summer. The pair is also jointly charged with trafficking in stolen police uniforms, obstruction of justice and public mischief.
Police also allege Mr. Da Costa led a plan to bribe officers to protect illegal cannabis dispensaries. York Regional Police declined to say how they believe Mr. Da Costa met Constable Barnhardt.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
Mr. Da Costa, 43, is now in custody and is seeking bail. He made a brief court appearance by video on Friday.
His lawyer, Alison Shields, declined to comment for this story.
Constable Barnhardt is being held in custody. He was denied bail during a hearing earlier this month.
Nearly seven years ago, after a tip from a confidential source, Toronto Police drug squad officers were dispatched to the streets to keep a close watch on Mr. Da Costa, according to court documents and official audio recordings of court proceedings. Seven unmarked police cars shadowed him around town for several days in March, April and May of 2019 as part of a surveillance campaign.
Whenever Mr. Da Costa got out of cars – he was spotted in a Red Audi, a black Mercedes and a silver Honda – officers filled their notebooks. They alleged they observed meetings in plazas and outside pawnshops, where Mr. Da Costa passed along plastic grocery bags stretching to reveal brick-like shapes inside.
“It looked like kilos of cocaine to me. There were rectangles and it appeared weighted,” Detective David Wallace later testified about one such interaction.
Court recordings and documents indicate that Mr. Da Costa met several times with Brian Aguiar, who was identified as his “partner” and “Target Two” of the probe. Officers said the two shared car rides, dined together and met up in plaza parking lots.
Mr. Aguiar was not charged in the 2019 Toronto Police investigation.
The probe “collided with an overlapping investigation” by York Regional Police’s organized crime enforcement bureau, according to a document filed by the Crown. Mr. Da Costa and Mr. Aguiar “featured in both investigations,” it says. (York Regional Police did not immediately respond to an e-mail from The Globe asking about that probe.)
Mr. Walsh, the federal prosecutor, confirmed to The Globe the same Mr. Aguiar was arrested in 2021 in Burlington, a community west of Toronto.
At the time, Halton Regional Police dubbed the takedown Project Icarus and said drug seizures flowing from the arrest of Mr. Aguiar and other suspects were the biggest drug bust in the force’s history.
Detectives who arrested Mr. Aguiar alleged they found counterfeit currency, falsified government documents and two cars with hidden trap compartments to carry drugs. He was later sentenced to five years for cocaine trafficking.
When Toronto Police officers arrested Mr. Da Costa in May, 2019, he was walking out of his rented 17th floor condo near The Queensway in Etobicoke. Police said they found wads of $100 bills amounting to more than $12,000, a vacuum sealing device and several cellphones.
There was also 7.3 kilograms of cocaine, according to police. “There was six bricks of drugs in the actual oven,” Constable Leslie Dodds later told court.
Within hours of his arrest, Mr. Da Costa was bailed out by his father, who agreed to watch over him while pledging $50,000 in bail money. Court heard Mr. Da Costa was a construction worker who did not have a criminal record.
The progression of the case collided with the 2020 outbreak of COVID-19, which delayed proceedings.
Mr. Da Costa’s trial was scheduled in Ontario Superior Court for March 2023.
But before that, the court scheduled a standard pretrial hearing.
Such hearings give the defence a chance to make arguments to exclude evidence. In a written application, Mr. Da Costa’s lawyer, Kim Schofield, said she should be able to grill police officers about their use of a confidential informant and whether the arrest had violated Mr. Da Costa’s rights.
Court documents say she also alleged “unnamed officers interviewed” Mr. Da Costa in a police station before he had the opportunity to call a lawyer.
Mr. Walsh, the prosecutor, responded in his own written arguments that there was “no evidence” to support the allegation and the defence application was invalid and “would only waste time.”
The two sides appear never to have discussed the Charter issues in open court.
On Jan. 24, 2023, after Ms. Schofield had asked for a breakout discussion to kick off the pretrial hearings, prosecutors dropped the case.
“I’m sure you received my email to the trial co-ordinator,” Mr. Walsh said, according to a recording. “The Crown has decided to direct a stay in this matter.’
“No comment, Your Honour,” Ms. Schofield said.
She said her client would consent to making a forfeiture. The records do not specify what was forfeited.
Mr. Da Costa was told he was free to go.
Ms. Schofield said she could not comment on the case when reached last week.
Toronto Police spokesperson Stephanie Sayer declined to comment on the outcome of the case, referring questions to the federal prosecution service.
In an e-mail, Mr. Walsh said: “In this case, the public interest required that the charges be stayed and that no reasons be given. That remains the case today.”