Alan Story

Morality officer ran sex-for-pay service

Constable Gordon Junger

A Metro police morality squad officer operated an escort service last fall that hired women and men, including two other policemen, to provide sex for money, The Star has learned.

Constable Gord Junger, 29, was videotaped at a Scarborough hotel on Dec. 5 after he was paid $200 by an undercover police woman during a police sting operation.

Later that day, Junger was charged with possession of hashish The drugs were found by police at a Scarborough townhouse where he was living with a former highly paid call girl. The 26-year-old prostitute, a former model was a partner in the escort agency.

Junger, a member of the force since 1981 and police officer of the month in July, 1986, was suspended with pay on Dec. 6 and resigned March 1.

The drug charge was withdrawn in court Feb. 28, the day before he resigned.

No prostitution-related charges or Police Act charges were laid.

Junger later said he was given a letter of recommendation that would allow him to join another force with an unblemished police record. (Police said yesterday he received a letter simply stating his years of service.)

In a tape-recorded phone conversation in January with his former girlfriend, Junger said, "All they wanted to do was have me resign and that's it."

"The last thing they wanted to do was have everything brought out in public, basically so that you don't give other police officers the same idea that they can go out and start escort agencies on the side," Junger continued on one of eight tapes obtained by The Star.

The former girlfriend taped a number of telephone conversations with Junger -- recordings that were handed over to police investigators during December and January.

In an interview yesterday, Junger denied any involvement in the escort service and said he had never performed sex for payment.

It is not known if disciplinary measures have been taken against the two other officers whose names were given to the police.

Chief William McCormack said in an interview yesterday that no special deals were made with Junger and that a thorough impartial investigation had been conducted. Possible criminal offences, including "living on the avails of prostitution," were investigated, McCormack said, but the evidence did not support further criminal charges.

Junger "was not forced into resigning," the chief said, but he confirmed that was there was "certainly evidence that Police Act charges would follow" against Junger if he stayed on the force.

The Police Act is a provincial statute that establishes a code of conduct for police officers and how disciplinary issues, such as corrupt practices and discreditable conduct, should be handled. If a police officer resigns, Police Act charges are null and void.

Escort agencies are a booming business. According to advertisements in the 1989-90 Yellow Pages, more than 150 escort agencies operate in Metro.

The owners of these businesses are seldom arrested and Metro morality squad officials say they are essentially conviction-proof.

Junger, who was a member of the morality squad until October, 1989, when he transferred to the downtown 52 division, met the prostitute last year at the home of another Metro police morality squad officer.

In the spring, Junger moved into the woman's Scarborough townhouse and began driving her on calls to men paying her for sex.

The couple formed an escort agency and other women and men, including the two other police officers, were hired to provide either heterosexual or gay sex, the former girlfriend said.

In November, Junger took out an ad in the Business Services section of Now magazine, the weekly entertainment and news tabloid, in a move to increase the number of clients for the agency.

MAGAZINE AD: Business picked up at escort service after this ad ran in NOW Magazine.

Under the headline "Pleasure can be yours," the ad said their escort service provided "executive style males, females and couples."

Business picked up, but the woman and Junger began arguing about their relationship and about her pregnancy.

On Dec. 4, she went to the internal affairs section of Metro police and provided investigating officers with details of their escort agency.

She said Junger was considering buying another Metro escort service known as "Manhattan" and described how he used internal police information for their personal business.

For example, on one tape recording of a phone call passed to Internal affairs, Junger's girlfriend asked him to find out about the background of a woman who had phoned in for a job with the agency.

"I can run a check on that person... I can do it right now," Junger told her from station.

Shortly afterward, Junger phoned his girlfriend back and said, "we have nothing on her... she sounds good."

He then went on to say that the women they are hiring "should get some sort of paging system... quite a few of them do, I've noticed."

In other taped phone calls, Junger is heard making calls about their escort business from a police station and from a house near the scene of a car accident he was investigating.

Internal affairs officials moved quickly after the complaint from the former girlfriend. A woman from the force using the name " Sarah" was recruited to act as a customer of the escort service and, on the afternoon of Dec, 5, a room was rented at a Scarborough hotel.

In tape recordings obtained by The Star, Junger (who worked in the escort business under the alias "Greg" answered his pager at the police station, said he had taken the call from "Sarah," and said he would "drop by there" later that afternoon.

As the 6 p.m. meeting time approached, internal affairs officer Roy Pilkington told Junger's girlfriend on the phone that "our girl" is ready and "we are all set up at end."

But with a touch of worry in his voice, PiIkington then asked in one taped conversation: "He (Junger) never takes his gun with him whenever he comes on any dates, does he?"

She replied, "Sometimes he does take it in his (sports) bag."

Moments after Junger arrived inside the hotel room and "Sarah" paid him $200, several officers from internal affairs walked into the room.

Later that night, Internal affairs officers took Junger to the Scarborough townhouse. Inside a kitchen drawer, officers allegedly found 5.64 grams of hashish that had an estimated value of $110.

Asked yesterday about this version of events, McCormack confirmed they were "generally speaking correct."

Junger appeared in court Dec. 20 on the drug charge.

Later, Junger asked his girlfriend to tell Ken Byers, his lawyer, that he didn't know about the escort business and that she had gone to internal affairs because of a domestic dispute. Junger was unhappy with the subsequent interview between Byers and his girlfriend.

Junger said she had given Byers "the good information" that their business was split on a "50-50" basis and that "he (Junger) does the girls, I do the guys."

"You had an opportunity to rectify a situation and failed to do it... there is no forgiving," Junger told his girlfriend in one taped phone call.

"You're not offering any possible, possible defence for me in that situation," he continued.

Junger made three other court appearances until Feb. 28 when the charges were withdrawn by the crown.

The federal Department of Justice, which prosecutes drug offences, withdrew the charge because "we didn't think there was enough evidence," said Ted Thompson, director of the Toronto regional office.

"I had heard about a deal" made with Junger and read reports about the escort service, Thompson said, but added that information did not influence the withdrawing of charges.

Thompson, who admitted a was unusual for himself and the regional director of prosecutions to become involved in a minor possession of drug case, said one potential witness was "not reliable."

McCormack gave a similiar version. He said the evidence of a witness "changed somewhat" and the original statement given to police "would not be accurate."

Both refused to provide further details.

In later taped conversations with his former girlfriend, Junger bragged that "I can thank my lucky stars thaf everything turned out to be A-okay."

As part of "the deal" with Metro police, all the evidence is to be destroyed, Junger said in a taped call.

"So if ever I do join another force, there is no evidence whatsoever and with a letter of recommendation, they (internal affairs officers) can't go (back) on their word and say 'Hey, he's recommended, but don't take him because he's da da da' because they would get in s--- for that... it's all part of the deal," Junger continued.

McCormack said the allegation by Junger of a deal "does not dignify a reply."

Junger did not receive a letter of recommendation, only a letter saying when he had served with the Metro force, McCormack said.

But McCormack agreed that another police force where Junger might apply for a job would not be aware of his conduct on the Metro force.

The chief refused to talk about the involvement of other officers in the escort service. "I'm not going to discuss other officers and I'm not going to discuss further investigations that may still be going on," he said yesterday.

Junger told The Star yesterday that he resigned from the force last month to pursue "business opportunities" in real estate.

He said the woman "Sarah" was an employee of a bank and that they had simply discussed a real estate-related matter over the telephone.

He also denied using internal police computers for the escort service business.