Ontario Cop Back On Hot Seat For Collusion With Hells Angels

After an investigation by the Canadian police intelligence authorities led to the arrest of 31 members of the Canadian arm of the Hells Angels, Niagara Regional Police (NRP) Const. Dean Rudge was charged with passing sensitive investigative documents to members of the notorious motorcycle club.

Those documents included information about plans by the members of the rival Outlaws motorcycle gang to reopen a chapter of their club in St Catherines, Ont.

The investigation of Rudge began when police found members of the Hells Angels in possession of confidential police documents during a  series of raids targeting the motorcycle club back in 2006.

Rudge was accused – and later acquitted – of leaking confidential police documents to the Hells Angels, but the Ontario Court of Appeal overturned the acquittal and cited an error in law by the trial judge in this latest decision. Rudge has been suspended from the force with pay since April 2007.  He was originally found not guilty of breach of trust by Superior Court Justice Harrison Arrell at the end of a trial that lasted 11 days during the spring 2010.

“This court does not lightly overturn an acquittal,”said Justice Gloria Epstein. “The trial judge approached the evidence comprising the case for the prosecution in a manner that amounted to an error in law.”

Rudge joined the NRP back in 1985, and he denied the allegations against him at his first trial. Rudge claimed an unnamed third party stole the documents from police possession.

The investigation that started the fracas was dubbed ‘Project Develop.’  The move by police was an 18-month investigation that included the cooperation of a full-patch Hells Angels member who worked undercover as a police agent infiltrating the Toronto chapter of the Hells Angels.

In Ontario, 32 raids – which included a dozen in Toronto – resulted in 31 arrests and 169 charges filed in Ontario courts.

“Hells Angels criminal activity has been exposed by one of their own,” said Ontario Provincial Police Insp. Dan Redmond of the investigation.

No date has been set for the new trial…

Whether you ride a sport bike or an American cruiser, your insurance needs can get complicated.

We’re here to help you find the right motorcycle insurance, whatever you ride…

Tips for buying your motorcycle insurance, coverage you need:

• Collision to pay for damage caused to your vehicle in an accident with another vehicle or any stationary object.
• Comprehensive to cover such things as fire, hail, wind, vandalism, hitting an animal, etc.
• Towing / Pickup
• Medical payment or personal injury protection to cover the medical bills resulting from an accident.
• Uninsured or underinsured motorist to protect us when the other driver is at-fault and does not have coverage or assets out of which your bills can be paid.