Andrew Duffy

Officer taped in sex 'sting', probe told

The tape was shot in a hotel room in December 1989. Junger was in the room with a policewoman who was posing as a client.

Lawyer Brian Greenspan, acting for Metro police Chief Wiliam McCormack, said yesterday the tape clearly shows Junger requested $200 for acts of sex.

McCormack, in his second day of testimony, said he authorized the sting, which was designed to gather information about Junger's activities.

He said it's very clear to him that the videotape "depicts the act, unequivocally, of a male prostitute."

The videotape, however, has not been entered into evidence at the Ontario Police Commission inquiry. A three member panel is examining the Junger affair and the operations of Metro's internal affairs unit.

Junger, a nine-year police veteran, signed a secret resignation agreement with investigators from Metro's internal affairs unit on Jan. 19, 1990.

In the two-page document, the police agree to withdraw a drug charge and destroy evidence relating to Junger's "personal and business dealings" with his one-time girlfriend, Roma Langford who worked as a call girl.

McCormack said internal affairs investigators made an "error in judgment" by not showing the written agreement to him before they signed it "as per the chief."

Had the agreement been brought to his desk, he would have clarified its provisions, McCormack said, making it clear that Junger's drug possession charge would be withdrawn subject to the approval of a crown attorney.

He would also have made it clear that the destruction of evidence applied only to the hashish involved in the drug charge, McCormack told the inquiry.

The chief said he knew an agreement had been reached with Junger, but he wasn't aware of its contents, nor did he give the officers authority to sign in his name. Any time an officer signs something in his name, McCormack always reviews the document, he testified.

"You will have to ask the two investigating officers why they signed 'as per the chief of police,'" he told Junger's lawyer, Peter Rosenthal, during a grueling cross-examination, peppered with objections from other counsel.

In signing the agreement, Junger may well have thought that the embarassing sting videotape was to be destroyed, McCormack admitted. But he refused to adopt Rosenthal's suggestion that police approved the agreement to save the force from embarassment.

Rosenthal also alleged that "some pressure had been brought to bear" against the federal prosecutor who eventually withdrew the drug possession charge against Junger.

McCormack angrily denied the suggestion.

It was in August 1989 that Metro police and McCormack first learned that Junger was living with a prostitute, the inquiry was told.

Langford's relatives approached police for help in getting her out of the prostitution business.

"My information was far more grave than that Junger was living with a prostitute," McCormack said. "The suspected actions of this officer were absolutely disgraceful."

McCormack said police were initially told that Junger may have misused the Canadian Police Information Centre computer terminals and may have been involved with drugs. It was thought two other officers could also have been involved in the affair, he said.

Police later cleared the other two officers of any wrongdoing.

June Rowlands, chairperson of the Metro Police Services Board, formerly the Metro police commission, was expected to take the witness stand today.