Sex, drugs scandal casts shadow on prominent cop, notorious temple arson
A provincial investigation into prominent cop Ian Matthews concluded he demonstrated discreditable conduct
Warning: This story contains some graphic content.
The day before Ian Matthews, a prominent,veteran investigator with the Hamilton Police Service, shot himself in the central station, senior officers met to decide when to officially tell him he was being investigated for an inappropriate sexual relationship with a source in a notorious arson that destroyed the city's Hindu temple.
Some 800 text messages between Matthews and a womandepict the months-long relationship as a tangle of sex, drugs, intel, money and power, as outlined inconfidential reports by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, obtained by CBC Hamilton.
By any standard, that relationship and the activities throughout would bring discredit upon the Hamilton Police Service.- OIPRD investigation into complaint about the late Ian Matthews, a staff sergeant with Hamilton Police Service
The woman, now in her early 30s, alleges she was coerced into several months of sexual interactions with Matthews under the assumption that she had no choice if she wanted to protect her then-fianc, one of the three men eventually charged and convicted in connection with the crime.
She alleges that she was sexually assaulted and that the entire premise of the relationship was exploitative, since Matthews was in a position of authority.
The conclusions in thereports by Ontario's independent police review body are based on interviews they conducted,a review of the text messages, andsummaries of earlier investigations by both Hamilton and Niagaraofficersinto the woman's allegations.
- Send tips on this or any other Hamilton Police-related story tokelly.bennett@cbc.ca
Complaintsubstantiated
While the reports do not vouch for the veracity of all the details of her account, the OIPRDinvestigators do conclude that two main complaints against Matthews aresubstantiated: that Matthews demonstrated discreditable conduct in having the inappropriate relationship with the woman involving drugs, sex and money,and that he had breached confidentiality.
Matthews' behaviour "would bring the reputation of the police service into disrepute," theOIPRDreport authors conclude.
The woman also complained about then-Chief Glenn De Caire's handling of her allegations, but the same provincial investigators concludethat complaint was unsubstantiated, and that he hadn't mishandled the situation once he learned of the inappropriate relationship.
Those investigating the allegations concluded the interactions did not pass the threshold of criminal sexual assault. The OIPRD concludes the investigators were reasonable to consider the relationship consensual.
But,De Caire told the OIPRDthat, absent an explanation from Matthews, he would have been charged under the Police Services Act had he not killed himself.
Matthews died on December 17, 2013, before he was served notice of an investigation into these allegations. De Caire had asked Niagara Police to conduct an arms-length investigation after hearing the allegations, according to the report.
Matthews didn't keep notes other than the text messages that might shed light on his account of their relationship, and he died before he had a chance to respond, the OIPRD notes.
'The Wayne Gretzky of investigators'
But the sordid story casts a shadow over the legacy of a top cop, who one senior police official described as "the Wayne Gretzky of investigators." After Matthews' death, arun was organized to raise money for suicide prevention and mental health in his name , and his very public death kicked off a renewed focus on supporting first responders who develop post-traumatic stress disorder on the job.
The allegations also reveal a mess behind the scenes of the police investigation into the cold case of the Hindu Samaj hate crime, in sharp contrast to the way in which police announced the arrests in the case, holding a news conference for community and religious leaders at the rebuilt temple in 2013 and touting the good-news results of the case that took 12 years to solve.
CBC Hamilton sent a list of specific questions to Hamilton Police, including:
- how the servicehandled the revelation of the relationship and allegations of assault
- what could have been done sooner in response tothe allegations to help or discipline Matthews
- what impact the relationship had on investigating and prosecuting the high-profile arson
In response, the police servicesaid in a statement that they arebound by secrecy in the police complaint process and would not comment about the case.
Inresponse to questions from CBC Hamilton about how the Crown's office prosecuted the case, a spokesman from the Ministry of the Attorney General, which speaks for the Crown,saidthe relationshiphad no bearing on the outcome of the case, where three men pled guilty to lesser mischief charges 13 years after their crime.
Matthews' involvement in the arson case was "brief, incidental and inconsequential" and "therefore his alleged conduct did not impact either the investigation or the prosecution," the ministry said in a statement to CBC.
And while temple leaders were satisfied with the plea deals in light of the forgiveness and "truth and reconciliation" they wanted to emphasize above all, a director of the temple said the allegations undermine the credibility of the police force.
The woman, who gave birth to a daughter a few months ago, said in an interview with CBC Hamilton that the whole situation leaves her feeling uneasy about police. CBC granted the woman anonymity for this story because the allegations include sexual assault.
"My parents always told me the police are safe, right? They're supposed to help you. Like any parent would tell their child," she said.
"Now, I'm not so sure I'd do that with my daughter."
'His position of authority'
The OIPRD report outlines the woman's main allegation, that Matthews used "his position of authority and his involvement in the investigation of [her] fianc to manipulate, control and sexually exploit and sexually assault her."
The report assembles accounts from several interviews between the woman and investigators from Hamilton, Niagara and the province. Together, they tell a story where the woman claims sheis reluctant to do what Matthews asks, but does so because of his position of authority, especially in her particular circumstances.
In some cases, she alleges the warning is explicit: he shows her his loaded gun. He reveals he knows where she is or has been, suggesting he's following her, she said.
'Information was added that had not been disclosed before'
But the details she includes aren't all consistent from interview to interview, the investigators note. In some cases, her recollection "had the appearance of being self-serving," one of the Niagara investigators found.
"It cannot be ignored that each time a statement was given, or complaint made, some very significant information was added that had not been disclosed before," the authors of the OIPRD report note.
That contributed to theconclusion by Hamilton and Niagara investigators assigned to this case, and ultimately byDe Caire,that this was not a case of criminal sexual assault.
The woman said in an interview with CBC Hamilton thatinconsistencies in her interviews with police can be attributed in part to the "trauma" and "torment" she was going through.
"I couldn't remember a lot. Like it was hard," she said in an interview. "I would sit there and be like, I can't remember if that happened first or if that happened after."
'Evidence'
Sometimes Matthews' rendezvous with the woman includedcocaine he'd give her money to buy, she told police.
Once, at his house, Matthews brought out a Ziploc bag filled with cocaine, marked "Evidence," she alleged in an interview withpolice. The OIPRD included the drugallegations in the reports but did not comment specifically on them,other than to conclude the relationship between the woman and Matthews included "drugs, sex and money".
The woman, who also filed a civil suit against the police that has been sealed, started interacting with Matthews aroundMay 2013.
The reports includeconflicting stories about how they initially met in one account, she told police she called and asked for him since his name was listed on the police website from when he was the investigator on the arson case. Inanother,he came to the sports bar where she worked and caught up with her on the patio while she smoked a cigarette on a break, she told police, according to the reports.
Though he was no longer the investigator on the case, they later met behind the old Mountainpolice station on Upper Wellington Street, according to what she told police. She gave him some information about the arson, and they parted ways.
In the next day or so, she got a couple of messages: One, that he was working on a reward for her. Two, that she was beautiful and could they meet at a bar for a drink?
'A give and take kind of thing': Complainant
She agreed, expecting to talk about the case. But instead, after a couple of drinks, the two went for a drive and she said Matthews started taking her clothes off, ripping some, and touching her, she alleged to police.
She was telling him no, she said, but ultimately she performed oral sex on him, she admitted to police. She didn't see another option.
"I figure at that point it was a give and take kind of thing," she told a police investigator whose account is included in the OIPRD report.Matthewstold her confidential information about the arson, the report concludes.
In an interview with provincial investigators more than a year later, the woman divulged for the first time that Matthews rubbed his gun on her genitals in the car that night. He showed her that there were bullets in the gun, she said.
TheOIPRDreviewdoesn't specifically opine on theallegations about the gun.
'He told me he could save [my fianc]'
The event spiraled into more sexual texts from Matthews, she told police. Over the course of four months, the texts between the two discussed some money she'd borrowed from him, the reward she said he'd talked about arranging for her, and ways to define their relationship, like whether they were "friends with benefits".
"What kept me talking to him was the fact that he told me he could save [my fianc]," she said in an interview with CBC Hamilton.
"How do you get away from that? How do you get out of that? Because who do I go to?" she said.
"If I go to the detectives, they're gonna find out about [his involvement]. So then I can't go to them about him because then [he's] going to get had."
Meanwhile, Matthews asked her to tell her fianc to turn himself in, she said, and he'd avoid being charged, according to an interview she did with police summarized in the report.
This news didn't go over well with her fianc. "After telling her fianc about the sex and cocaine involving Matthews he kicked her out," a police investigator noted, according to the report. That was the beginning of the end of their relationship, she said in an interview.
"Because I resented him for it," she said. I blamed him for ever meeting [Matthews], for this ever happening."
Eventually she was interviewed by the proper case manager on the arson investigation, who passed his notes from the interview and the text messages on to senior officers. The texts from Matthews ended around the same time, in early October, the report notes.
Chief orders independent investigation
As soon as De Caire heard about the police interview in mid-October where the woman detailed the relationship, he asked Niagara Police to do an independent investigation into her allegations.
Those investigators interviewed her on Dec. 6, 2013. They revealed their findings to Hamilton Police Staff Sgt. Deb Clark a few days later, on Dec. 9. Clark oversees police internal reviews and professional standards for the Hamilton service.
On Dec. 16, Clark had a meeting with senior officers about when to serve Matthews with official notice that he was being investigated, which De Caire had already authorized, according to the report.
On. Dec. 17, Matthews shot himself.
Ultimately, De Caire summarized his position on the relationship to the OIPRD: "I would think that everything we reviewed, it's a hundred per cent consensual in the activities that took place."
'More than physical buildings'
Meanwhile, a few weeks earlier, Hamilton police and elected leaders held a high-profile press conference at the HinduSamajtemple, announcing they'd arrested three men in the attacks on the temple and a nearby mosque that had happened a few days after the Sept. 11, 2001 World Trade Centre terrorist attacks.
Police had new information on the case. The arson attacks had been deemed a hate crime, DeCaireannounced to a crowd of public officials and members of the Hindu and Muslim communities.
"It was more than physical buildings that were destroyed that day,"he said.
They announced charges against three men who'd been in their early 20swhen the crime occurred. In late 2014, each one of the three struck a plea deal with the Crown attorney prosecuting the case, pleading guilty to lesser mischief charges and agreeing to terms of community service, probation and donations to charity.
In response to questions about the prosecution from CBC Hamilton, the Attorney General's office said thatthe police shared the Niagara police investigation into the relationship with the Crown attorney prosecuting the case.
The Crown considers a number of factors and circumstances in working out resolutions of court cases,itsaid, and considered the relationship irrelevant to the trial.
All attorneys involved in the negotiations were aware of the allegations about the relationship between Matthews and the woman, the ministrysaid.
Had he known that there had been a formal police investigation, he said he might have been in a position to handle the defence differently.
Still, the sense among the attorneys at the time, Boushy said,was that the crimes had happened 13 years previous, the offenders had been young men and none had previous criminal records.
"When you can get an arson pled down to mischief, that's, under normal circumstances, a very good thing for your client,"Boushysaid.
The merits of settling the case instead of taking it through a full trial extended beyond his client,Boushysaid.
"The gist of the resolution was that it was also good for the community," he said. "Something that was good to resolve, in the manner that it was resolved."
One of the other two defence attorneys in the case, Venus Sayed, declined to comment, and the other, Ian Begg, did not return a requestfor comment on the matter.
'They burnt this entire temple to the ground'
DavinCharney, an attorney who represents the woman in her complaints against police, told CBC Hamiltonthelack of jail time given in such a high-profile crime puzzleshim.
"Those three guys who were charged, they get what I think must the sweetest best deal for this act," he said."They all get suspended sentences. None of them go to jail. This isn't like they damaged the front door or something; they burnt this entire temple to the ground."
At the temple press conference the day the police announced the arrests, a statement from the Hindu community extended forgiveness and a desire for reconciliation, and said the community wanted those responsible for the crime to atone for what they'd done.
Beyond that, they were out of the loop, saidManiSubramanian, a member of the board of directors for the Hindu temple, in an interview with CBC Hamilton.
"We left it almost to the Canadian justice system," he said. "We didn't want to bring our personal emotions into this. Because obviously our community has gone through a lot of pain and therefore I didn't want to interfere."
Subramaniansaid the temple was not told anything about the investigation into Matthews' relationship.
"The Crown did not discuss the specific allegations with the victims, as the information provided in the reports did not affect the Crown's resolution position in this matter," the ministrysaid.
The allegations tarnish the view of the police that the temple leaders are trying to foster among the younger generation, Subramanian said.
"It doesn't seem to be appropriate," he said. "It will undermine the credibility of the police force."
But it does not, he said, undermine the core message the temple community celebrates out of the tragedy an unprecedented spirit of inclusion and belonging across Hamilton's diverse communities.
"We are prepared to forgive and forget. We follow the practice of Gandhi,"Subramaniansaid. "We want the path of truth and reconciliation."
A 6.93 kilometre run
The woman who complained about Matthews was having dinner with her fianc one night in December 2013 when her mom called and told her to turn on the news.
It was the night it was announced that Matthews had shot himself in the police station. He later died in hospital.
She said she got "sick to my stomach" watching people praise someone who had hurt her.
"All these things on the news about how he was Hamilton's super-cop and he was such a great police officer and everybody loved him," she said. "To me he was not this amazing man that they made him out to be in the news."
A few months later, in April, hundreds of runners and walkers came out for the inaugural Blarney Run, dubbed in accordance with Matthews' nickname.
She said the run should be named more broadly in support of police who have PTSD, not just under his name and picture.
The run this year was renamed the "Unity Run," but oneof the race distances, 6.93 kilometres, still pays homage to his badge number.
The run that first year went right past the woman's home. She saw a banner with his nickname, t-shirts with his picture.
"I threw my water bottle at them," she said. "I was like, 'You don't know who you're running for! You're running for a monster!' These people were looking at me like I was crazy probably, but they didn't understand."
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