Toronto officer in Project South case has sought guilty plea since February, lawyer says

Const. Elias Mouawad has been trying to plead guilty since shortly after his arrest in February, but the attempt stalled because prosecutors were not ready to accept the plea, his lawyer told a Toronto court.

Mouawad faces one count of unauthorized use of a computer and one count of breach of public trust. Peter Brauti said his client intended to plead guilty only to the computer-use charge. Mouawad was suspended without pay by Toronto police after his arrest.

Brauti said Mouawad expected to enter his plea and receive a sentence on Tuesday. A last-minute issue involving “conduct” delayed the plan. Prosecutors told the court that the issue did not involve their office or explain the earlier delay, but that events were developing quickly. Brauti said his client now wanted to wait and see how the matter unfolded.

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When information was released to the press, it made our client appear as if he was part of very, very serious conduct that has been alleged in Project South, when that is not the case.

Outside court, Brauti argued that Mouawad had been wrongly associated with the most serious allegations connected to Project South. “When information was released to the press, it made our client appear as if he was part of very, very serious conduct that has been alleged in Project South, when that is not the case,” he said.

Brauti said the case involved a single unauthorized computer check and was separate from allegations involving drug dealing, corruption and attempted murder. He said Mouawad had remained “under this cloud” and that the public had not received a true picture of what he described as relatively minor misconduct.

The court will adjourn for two weeks. The Crown said the delay would not affect any sentence Mouawad might receive. The case is scheduled to return on Sept. 16. The proceedings follow the guilty plea of former Toronto police constable Derek McCormick, who received a 10-month conditional sentence after pleading guilty to two charges in the broader investigation.

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This is an officer who did a single check, unauthorized, which is unrelated to all of these allegations of drug dealing, corruption, attempted murder, all that. It is a completely separate issue.