A once-rising star within the Toronto Police Service has been found guilty of misconduct for sexually harassing a female officer and destroying computer files.

In a 49-page ruling obtained by the Star, disciplinary hearing officer Keith Hoilett wrote that he accepts the officer’s “core complaint” and rejects former Staff Insp. Steve Izzett’s version of events.

The complainant’s identity is protected by a publication ban imposed by Hoilett at the outset of the hearing, which began in April 2011 and concluded last March after months of delays.

While her evidence was “not without infirmities … after several days on the witness stand there was no sense of an intent to mislead,” wrote Hoilett, a retired Ontario Superior Court Justice.

“On the core issues, I have no doubt concerning the sincerity and the reliability of (the complainant’s) evidence … it has the ring of truth to it; fortified by unexaggerated details,” he continued. “Equally compelling are those bits of evidence … which tends to corroborate” her allegations.

Izzett’s claim that the officer “could not be left in a room alone with him because she would not be able to keep her hands off him are lines worthy of a Harlequin Romance,” wrote Hoilett. He added that the defence counsel’s omission of questioning the officer about the alleged comment and inviting her response, “renders the claim fictional, in my view.”

Moreover, Izzett’s testimony that the woman came on to him “like a femme fatale,” was belied by his own pen, Hoilett wrote. He was referring to the so-called Nature-Nuture document that Izzett compiled and sent to the complainant. In it, he wrote: “I sensed yesterday in your voice a circumspect and annoyed disposition…”

Hoilett also found Izzett guilty of misconduct related to installing unauthorized software on a service-issued laptop which resulted in the destruction of computer files.

“The collective capability of the wiping software purchased and employed by Izzett betrays, in my view, a sinister purpose,” Hoilett wrote.

Izzett was handed a copy of the decision Friday at police headquarters when he showed up to sign in, as he has been required to do every weekday since he was suspended in September 2008 after an internal investigation began into his behaviour.

At the time, he was a 25-year veteran serving as unit commander of the Intelligence Division, which conducts wiretap operations, threat assessments and anti-terrorist investigations. He was in line to be promoted to superintendent.

The complainant was a detective sergeant who worked under Izzett after joining the unit in March 2007. She continues to work for the service.

Toronto lawyer David Butt, who represented the officer when she appeared as a witness before the tribunal, said she is “elated” by the ruling after a lengthy and difficult process.

“Standing up in a male-dominated, paramilitary organization” where obedience to superiors is in the DNA, is “very difficult and extremely lonely,” Butt said.

“Obviously there’s still a road ahead, and she’ll be prepared for that.”

Under the Police Services Act, Izzett can appeal the judge’s finding and sentence to the Ontario Civilian Police Commission. A sentencing date has not yet been scheduled. His penalty could range from dismissal to demotion or a reprimand.

Izzett’s lawyer, Leo Kinahan, could not be reached for comment Monday.

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Izzett originally faced nine misconduct charges, some related to inappropriate or tyrannical management style. In May 2011, prosecutors Brian Gover and Brendan Van Niejenhuis announced they would call no further evidence to support those charges, leaving six.

Hoilett dismissed one charge relating to whether Izzett misled a superior about possessing two laptop computers that were the property of the Toronto Police Service.