Ex-police inspector guilty of fraud

Source: The Hamilton Spectator
May 23, 2010
Susan Clairmont
The Hamilton Spectator

A former police inspector who pleaded guilty on Friday to stealing money seized from drug busts claims he gave the money to charities.
Like some kind of Robin Hood, Rick Wills says he took nearly $60,000 from accused drug dealers and anonymously donated the cash to local charities "which support those people in our community affected by the ravages surrounding the illegal drug trade."

Initially Wills -- who once commanded the vice and drugs unit -- faced 54 criminal charges, but pleaded guilty to just one count of fraud over $5,000 and one count of breach of trust. A dozen pages of detailed allegations involving frauds spanning eight years from 1998 to 2006 were read into the record. Despite all that information, not one word was said during Wills's court appearance as to why he took the money.

Outside court, however, Wills gave The Spectator a brief and cryptic explanation for his crimes.

"Seized property assets, " he said. When asked if he was referring to his own case, or more generally to the system of seized property assets, Wills said he meant the whole system, insinuating there is something fishy about it. He would not elaborate.

Wills also confirmed to The Spectator that he wrote a letter that was dropped off recently to the Neighbour to Neighbour Centre.

A man came to the Athens Street centre with the letter and items to donate to the food bank, says executive director Denise Arkell.

Wills writes in his letter that he has "lived and worked in Hamilton for thirty years." He does not identify himself as a police officer.

He writes that between 2004 and 2007 he made numerous anonymous donations to more than 13 charities, totalling about $55,000.

That happens to be the same amount Wills must still make restitution for. He came to court yesterday with a $5,000 personal cheque made out to the City of Hamilton to kick off the repayment process.

His letter goes on to say that "the ledger I maintained to keep track of these donations went missing from my home in 2009 and I now find myself in circumstances where I am forced to identify these contributions." He asks if Neighbour to Neighbour can give him proof they received cash donations for $200 to $300, which were either mailed or dropped off by him.

He includes his photo and telephone number.

Arkell says she checked to see if Wills had ever made any donations to her organization under his name and he hadn't. So she didn't pursue the request any further.

Wills, a 26-year veteran, was one of Hamilton police's highest profile commanding officers before resigning under a cloud of suspicion in August 2008. Soon afterward, Hamilton police called in the OPP to investigate Wills.

While a staff sergeant in charge of vice and drugs from 1999 to 2004, Wills managed the Police Confiscated Funds account, a general bank account operated by the City of Hamilton. Cash seized from accused people was deposited in the account until their case was decided. Depending on the trial outcome, the money would either be transferred to the federal Seized Property Management Directorate or returned to the lawful owner.

But time after time, Wills requested cheques from the police accounting department, saying money had been ordered returned to the accused when it fact it hadn't. He forged the accused's signature endorsing the cheque over to himself, signed his own signature, and deposited it into his personal bank account at TD Canada Trust.

The fraud scheme was extremely unsophisticated. Particularly considering Wills once ran the major fraud unit.

For instance, Wills forged the signature of a man who was currently locked up in Kingston Penitentiary. Twice. For a total of more than $34,000.

Another time, Wills e-mailed the accountant alleging that money was to be returned to an accused. Wills said the cheque should be given to him so he could deliver it personally, since the rightful owner lived at the notorious Sandbar tavern and apartments, a now defunct crack den and flophouse. "If it gets mailed there it will likely go missing, " Wills said in his e-mail.

In a case that does not fit the pattern of the others, Wills signed out an evidence bag containing $2,775 cash seized during a drug bust involving Hamilton police and the Provincial Biker Enforcement Unit. Wills admits he did not give the money to the City of Hamilton for deposit or to the Seized Property Assets.

Wills, who is represented by Toronto lawyer John Rosen, will appear again in October to provide the court with an update on his payments. In January he will appear for sentencing.

Susan Clairmont's commentary appears regularly in The Spectator.

sclairmont@thespec.com

905-526-3539