Montreal homicide detective guilty of passing data to criminals

A Montreal homicide detective was found guilty Friday of using the police database to glean personal information and pass it on to criminals.

Mario Lambert, 44, was arrested in September 2009 after the Montreal police internal affairs department discovered someone had used the computer between December 2008 and June 2009 for reasons other than legitimate police work.

Two Montreal police officers met with an informant on April 28, 2009, about a car-theft network that would ship the stolen vehicles overseas.

The source said he knew someone affiliated with organized crime who could get information from an investigator within the force with access to le Centre de renseignements policiers du Québec (CRPQ), a treasure trove of information on citizens, including licence-plate numbers, addresses and criminal records.

A meeting with a second source on May 8, 2009, revealed the same thing.

The source said the investigator in question worked at homicide headquarters in Place Versailles, was francophone and didn't ask for money in exchange for the information.

To test the allegation, police created fictitious plate numbers and gave them to the sources, who then asked for information on the plates from Lambert.

As soon as the numbers were searched on CRPQ, the officers investigating the allegations were immediately notified.

The first notification contained erroneous information about the plates.

But a second attempt, on May 6, 2009, produced accurate information as did one on June 9.

Police then installed a surveillance camera in Lambert's office, which showed him at his computer on June 9, 2009, the same time his CRPQ password was used to get information on the fictitious plate.

After going through past CRPQ searches under Lambert's password, investigators also found that on March 23, 2009, a search had been done on a city of Montreal vehicle that wasn't on the road that day and was not implicated in any incidents.

Quebec Court Judge Jean-Pierre Dumais said Lambert consciously broke the rules about not giving confidential CRPQ information to unauthorized people.

One of Lambert's lawyers, Richard Perras, said he is considering an appeal.

Sentencing arguments are to take place July 6.

smontgomery@montrealgazette.com

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