Niagara cop convicted in strange smuggling case

A Niagara Regional Police officer has been convicted in a bizarre smuggling case involving cheese and chicken wings.

Constable Scott Heron has been convicted of three counts of conspiracy to smuggle and violate the customs act. He was part of a ring that smuggled $300,000 worth of wings and cheese into Canada.

A judge has also found him guilty of breach of trust, for using a police database to check if police were onto him about the smuggling. Niagara deputy police chief Bryan MacCiulloch says he’s happy with the judge’s decision.

“We’re obviously never happy to hear about incidents like this but it demonstrates that the public can have confidence in our ability to aggressively investigate our own, and again it reaffirms our belief and trust in the judicial process.”

“It’s very disappointing, disappointing for me and for him,” said Heron’s lawyer Mike Del Gobbo. “But we’ll move to the next phase now which is the sentencing, and hopefully (he) receives a proper sentence that does not include a jail term.”
Heron will be sentenced at a later date.

CHCH’s Lauran Sabourin will have more on the case tonight on the Evening News at 6.