SFO
Active Member
With much of the ITO now public, I’m left with a seriously puzzling question:
Why is Rob Ford’s name in this ITO document at all??
Don’t get me wrong. I’m thoroughly relieved Ford has been exposed for who and what he really is. I think the man is utterly vile, and uniquely deserving of a public shaming.
But this is an important and easy to miss fact: the ITO serves precisely ONE legal function, and that is to obtain search warrants for Lisi’s vehicle and residence, and the Richview Cleaners commercial unit. That is all.
The search warrant application was made on Oct 2, 2013, which is one day after the Oct 1, 2013 arrest of Lisi and Bahrami (following their red-handed participation in an undercover drug buy). Immediately following these arrests, the ITO simply seeks permission to gather additional evidence on both men. End of story.
And none of this has anything to do with Rob Ford!
In fact, when you read the final pages of the ITO, which summarize grounds for the warrant applications, and the reasons to believe Lisi and Bahrami have committed offences, absolutely NONE of the sordid Rob Ford-related information contained elsewhere in the ITO is cited. Not one scrap of information on Winsdor Road, the crack video, the lost phone, the Bier Market, domestic abuse, drunk driving, manila envelopes, peeing in public, after-hours trips to TWDC, empty vodka bottles, rumours of prostitutes, etc., etc., etc. While all of this makes for an enlightening and amusing read, the detailed revelations of Ford’s personal problems brought zero substance to this application.
So why is it in there??
At the end of it all, Rob Ford is in fact no more or less a contributing factor to the grounds for this ITO than Mark Towhey, or George Christopolous, or Bruno Bellisimo, or any of the dozens of players touched by this bizarre drama. It pains me to say it, but in the absence of criminal charges, it seems Rob Ford’s lawyer is right: Ford is actually something of an innocent bystander in all of this; or worse, the target of a carefully orchestrated political drive-by. I mean, we essentially now have a 450-page unauthorized biography of this sad and damaged man, courtesy of investigators at the Toronto Police Services.
So I ask again: Why is Rob Ford’s name in this ITO document?? Because if Ford isn’t charged, then I think the police have a lot of explaining to do.
I've been wondering this off and on for awhile too. The contents of the ITO don't seem to match its stated purpose, at all. The why of that really hasn't come clear for me yet.