Article content continued

But the hearing officer agreed with the prosecutor that Sylvester’s “usefulness” has finally reached its expiry date.

“Had this been the only finding of guilt over a lengthy career, coupled with a positive employment record and other mitigating factors, there might have been an opportunity to impose a lengthy period of demotion,” Hegedus wrote.

Instead, Sylvester’s troubles as an officer date back two decades.

While his personnel file include 13 positive documentations, he was also the subject of six tribunal cases resulting in eight findings of guilt.

Sylvester was first found guilty under the Police Services Act in 1997 of consuming liquor and insubordination. Sylvester had shown up for work under the influence and was found unfit for duty. When ordered to report to his staff sergeant, he told his supervisor to ‘f–k off’ and then left without permission. He had to forfeit six days on each count.

In 2002, Sylvester landed in criminal court where he was convicted of assault: he had gone along to recover a vehicle for a male friend who had a restraining order not to have contact with his wife.

When the wife confronted Sylvester, he pushed her to the ground.

Sylvester was sentenced to a $500 fine and a year’s probation. Under the PSA, he was demoted for six months — and still he kept his job.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or

In 2005, there was a minor infraction: Sylvester pleaded guilty to neglect of duty for being 15 minutes late for work. Two years later, he was prosecuted under the PSA again: He’d been a passenger in a car whose driver was involved in an accident. When Halton police came by, Sylvester — who’d been drinking — told them to ‘get the f–k off my property’.