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Ellis was the first of two officers who were suspended amid the probe into what officers called “phantom tickets” or “ghost warnings.” Nine other officers were placed on desk duty and taken off the road.

On the date of his suspension — Sept. 30, 2015 — investigators found that Ellis had been stashing driver copies of warnings he faked in his duty bag.

Between April and June 2015, Ellis issued eight warnings but didn’t physically or verbally deliver them to drivers. The drivers, however, each acknowledged to investigators that the infractions did occur but they just didn’t receive any warning not to do them again.

The investigation also found that between April and August of 2015, Ellis issued 34 warnings to 32 different drivers without any evidence to support infractions whatsoever. Thirty of those drivers provided investigators with proof the infraction didn’t even occur.

Ellis admitted to the 42 incidents of misconduct during his interview with internal investigators in March of this year. He said his misconduct was due to peer pressure within the traffic escort and enforcement unit, specifically badgering by two fellow officers, along with his own desire to boost his stats and because he had pre-filled some tickets and failed to change the information. Ellis was ranked highest in the unit for his stats, and officers believed that he was faking the numbers.

The probe into the ghost warnings, which is still ongoing, has, so far, resulted in four officers being charged. Three, including Ellis, have pleaded guilty. Const. Bernard Covic received a seven-month demotion and Const. Brad Tierney was demoted for a year. A fourth officer, Const. Frederick Thornborrow has been charged but has yet to be arraigned on the charges and has not yet entered a plea. All were charged with two counts of discreditable conduct, one count of insubordination and one count of deceit under the Police Services Act. The charge of deceit was dropped against all officers who pleaded guilty.

Ellis has been an Ottawa officer since 2005 and a traffic enforcement officer since 2011. He has no other discipline on record.

Both the prosecution and defence have jointly asked for an 18-month demotion, which is likely to be handed down in September.

syogaretnam@postmedia.com

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