Toronto, Ontario — Details from an internal investigation from the Ontario Provincial Police’s (OPP) Professional Standards Unit have uncovered that two Mississauga, Ont.-based police officers, Sgt. Terrence Reefer and Const. Roberto Visconti, were arrested for allegedly giving preferential treatment to certain tow truck operators within the GTA.
The two officers, both from the OPP’s Mississauga detachment, had been on paid suspension since January 2021 while an investigation, first spawned from a February 2019 internal complaint, was carried out to determine their culpability.
36-year-old Visconti, an officer of 12 years, has been charged with breach of trust and obstructing a peace officer while Reefer, 59 and with 29 years in the service, has been charged with breach of trust.
Arrested alongside the two officers were 49-year-old Douglas Polus of Vaughan and 44-year-old Janan Dinkha of Mississauga, both of whom were charged with aiding and abetting breach of trust.
The pair were released on undertakings and are scheduled to attend a Brampton court next year.
This is far from the first time the OPP has been pitted against itself for the involvement of officers in towing corruption schemes—schemes that have been linked to allegations of sexual coercion on the part of some officers, the filing of fraudulent insurance claims and theft of encrypted police radios.
