CORRUPT EX-COP DUCKS JAIL

A disgraced former Hamilton cop who stole police drug money won't serve
time -- or have a criminal record.

Former Hamilton-Wentworth police vice cop Bruno Silvestri walked out of
Ontario Court (general division) yesterday with a conditional discharge.
That means the 39-year-old man at the centre of one of the region's biggest
police-corruption cases will have a clean record if he does 50 hours of
community service work and keeps his nose clean for one year.

But his lawyer, Dean Paquette, pointed out that because Silvestri pleaded
guilty to one charge of theft under $5,000, his reputation is sullied.

"He has paid a price here, suffered public ignominy of pleading guilty,
friends and family have read about it with all the shame that brings."

Silvestri has two children, 6 and 10. His wife was in court yesterday. Both
declined to comment afterwards.

Silvestri resigned from the police March 17 after 17 years wearing a badge.
He voluntarily repaid $4,999 to the police and split another $2,000 between
two charities.

"I have to ask if your misdeeds balance out with your good deeds," said
Justice Eugene Fedak. He praised Silvestri for his community service over
the years, and for preventing a possibly lengthy trial by pleading guilty.
"With your good deeds, that entitles you to a second chance."

Brantford Crown lawyer John Ayre said he did not support the conditional
discharge, but would not "vigorously oppose it," either.

Silvestri must fulfil three conditions during a one-year period: report to a
probation officer when required, perform community service, and keep the
peace and be of good behaviour.

Silvestri was part of a 1995 undercover drug probe in Hamilton. Officers
were advanced funds and made 40 purchases of crack cocaine during that year.
He was accused of diverting between $500 and $1,000 for personal use.

After a three-month internal police investigation prompted by a tip from a
former police agent, he was charged with five counts, including theft under
$5,000 and breach of trust.

In his accounting of funds to police, Silvestri cited drug purchases where
none existed and inflated the amount of money paid as expenses for the
probe.

Ayre and Paquette agreed that sloppy accounting of the sting project by
police made it difficult to determine how much money Silvestri diverted.

"To call them accounting difficulties would be understating it in the
extreme," said Ayre.

Paquette said the theft is "probably" Silvestri's responsibility, adding
that it "grew out of a system that was quite lax and needed control. But he
takes responsibility for it."

Fedak went so far as to suggest that in a trial Silvestri might have got off
the charges completely due to poor accounting, but "you stood up like a man
taking the punishment, knowing the truth and owning up to it."

In a list of facts agreed to by both lawyers, the police service is said to
have "long since addressed and corrected" the money mismanagement issue.

Silvestri is employed by a multinational company as a production supervisor.
Paquette said he is "doing well" with the company and has passed his
probation period.

He is unlikely ever to be hired as a police officer again.

"As far as I'm concerned, I can't see any time we would hire anyone who had
a criminal record, or even a criminal conviction," said Hamilton-Wentworth
police Inspector Dave Bowen.

Checked-by: Don Beck