Peter Edwards
Staff Reporter

A former Toronto drug squad officer was fined $1,500 in court today for soliciting a prostitute while he was on bail on corruption charges.

Ned Maodus heard the sentence passed by Mr. Justice Peter Bourque today in a Newmarket Court, a week after a Toronto judge threw out 29 corruption charges against Maodus and six other police officers, citing a 10-year delay.

Maodus was on bail on the corruption charges when he was arrested for soliciting an undercover police officer who was posing as a prostitute on the night of Jan. 11, 2006, in downtown Toronto.

Last August, Maodus pleaded guilty in Brampton Court to a series of domestic assault charges, including pointing a firearm.

He was given a conditional sentence of a year's house arrest and a year of curfew for those charges.

In today's sentencing, the judge noted that the former Toronto drug squad officer spent nine days in pre-trial custody.

Crown Attorney Toni Skarica had asked for an additional sentence of between 15 and 30 days.

The judge noted that fines are normally in the $200 to $400 range for soliciting prostitutes.

The judge noted that Maodus was technically a first-time offender at the time he solicited sex from the undercover officer. However, the judge also said that the disgraced officer was also still on the payroll of the Toronto Police Service.

"The fact that you are a police officer does constitute a breach of trust," the judge said.

Maodus' lawyer, Patrick Ducharme, said his client was under considerable stress at the time. He was staying in a downtown Toronto hotel awaiting pre-trial hearings on the corruption charges.

Ducharme said Maodus was engaged at the time and the prostitution-related charges ruined his wedding plans.

He also said that his client didn't discuss a fee for sexual activity with the undercover officer.

"There was no discussion of any particular sexual act," Ducharme said. "He did not go into the area where he was directed by the (undercover) officer."

Ducharme said that his client suffered a great deal of discomfort when he was held in a six-by-seven-foot cell awaiting custody.

The lawyer noted that his client stands six-foot-three and had a great deal of difficulty lying down comfortably.

He also said his client was under medication for stress, after being bitten on the job by a drug dealer. He said the former officer was forced to undergo testing for Hepatitis-C and AIDS as a result of the bite.

"I'm asking your Honour to take into account what he's been through," Ducharme said. "...This was a time in his life when he was seriously messed up...he's a very different man today."

Ducharme continued that his client hasn't drawn a salary from the Toronto Police for 14 months and now lives in Windsor, with his 82-year-old seriously ill mother.

Ducharme noted that his client was in protective custody in jail because he's a police officer and urged the judge not to send him back behind bars.

"He has been restrained like no one else has for years and will be for years to come."