Andrew Duffy

Junger longs for his "ordeal" to end

"I want it over with -- only then can I truly go on to do something else," Junger said in an interview yesterday.

"Right now, I am not doing much -- I am existing and that's it. For the past two years, Junger, 31, has been the central figure in the most sensational scandal ever to hit the Metro police force.

He was accused of being a male prostitute and co-owner of the Pleasure Can Be Yours Escort Service. Caught in a videotaped sting operation, he resigned from the force, taking with him a written guarantee the police would destroy the video and not lay any criminal charges.

A provincial inquiry has just released a report condemning the police for their handling of the Junger investigation and other internal discipline cases.

"I an very pleased with their recommendations -- I think they are definitely advantageous to the citizens of Toronto," Junger told The Star yesterday.

"I always felt I had been treated differently, unfairly, like a second class citizen -- and this report confirms that."

Junger, however, believes his "ordeal" is only half over. He wants to prove through a civil suit that he was "blackmailed" into leaving the Metro force and he never acted as a prostitute. (The $4.7 million wrongful dismissal suit has been on hold, pending the outcome of the provincial inquiry.)

"It's just such a vulgar word, prostitute," he said. "It's such a strange thing to see yourself on television -- in a videotape -- being called a prostitute. "Everyone says, Gord you're on videotape, you're guilty of something." "So I want the chance to clear my name in a court of law."

Junger said he's only guilty of trying to escape the clutches of then-girlfriend, Roma Langford, a sultry call girl.

Langford was pregnant. And Junger said he would have done just about anything at the time to persuade her to have an abortion -- even take part in an escort service.

When he met a woman in the Sheraton Toronto East Hotel on Dec. 5, 1989 -- a meeting captured on police videotape -- it was his first crack at prostitution, Junger said.

"Who is to say what would have happened?" he asked. "I've never been in that situation before and I don't know if I would have gone through with it."

Junger agreed to resign quietly from the force in return for a written guarantee the videotape would be destroyed. "I thought I was being a gentleman and saving the force some embarrassment," he said.

On the face of it, the agreement bound police to see that the crown attorney withdrew a narcotics possession charge against Junger. It also seemed to bind police to destroying evidence related to his business and personal dealings with Langford.

"I am glad I had the foresight to put everything in writing," he said yesterday. "Because if this was just a verbal deal, everything would have been denied and I would have been up the creek without a paddle."

Internal affairs, he said, should have investigated the charges against him more thoroughly, then charged him with criminal or disciplinary offences.

Junger, officer of the month in July, 1986, had an unblemished police record. He was a successful triathlete and a frequent competitor in the international police games.

He thought he deserved better from the police force. His was a victimless offence, Junger said, noting others have remained on the force having committed worse crimes.