Cop had no evidence former chief complicit

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

15 May 2008

Posted By Trevor Pritchard

A veteran city cop told the Cornwall Public Inquiry he didn't have to interview Earl Landry Sr. to know the former police chief was innocent of obstructing his son's sexual abuse investigation.

"I had nothing to interview him about," said Sgt. Brian Snyder, who wrapped up his third day on the stand Wednesday. "I had no evidence to bring to him."

In 2000 and 2001, Snyder spent seven months investigating allegations that Landry Sr. had interfered with the Cornwall Police Service's 1985 investigation of his son, Earl Landry Jr.

Police had arrested Landry Jr. after receiving abuse allegations from a man known as C-51.

Landry Jr. had originally been willing to take a polygraph test. But the day after he was arrested, Landry Sr. called Staff Sgt. Stan Willis, one of the two investigators handling the case, and said his son had changed his mind.

Willis's notes showed Landry Sr. felt the investigation was going "too fast" and that the polygraph offer was now off the table. Shortly afterwards, police closed the case without charging Landry Jr.

Fourteen years later, in 1999, Landry Jr. pleaded guilty to abusing five boys - including C-51 - over the span of a decade while working as a Cornwall park custodian.

In Snyder's final report, entered into evidence yesterday, he concluded the force gave "no special consideration" to Landry Jr. because his father was once the chief.

Snyder found the two lead investigators, Willis and Sgt. Ron Lefebvre, conducted a proper investigation. C-51 had problems giving evidence about his abuse "due to various intellectual limitations," he wrote.

But while Snyder interviewed about two dozen witnesses in the criminal probe, it was the absence of one key interview subject - Landry Sr. himself - that drew the attention of lawyers at the Weave Shed yesterday. Snyder told commission counsel Karen Jones he didn't question Landry Sr. because he never uncovered any evidence to put to the former chief. Without anything incriminating, Landry Sr. - who ran the CPS from 1974 to 1984 - would simply have denied interfering with his son's investigation, Snyder said.

"Could I have (interviewed him)? Yes, I could have," said Snyder. "I didn't feel it was necessary."

The fact the case was closed so soon after Landry Sr. called Willis piqued the curiosity of both inquiry commissioner Normand Glaude and Helen Daley, an attorney for the Citizens for Community Renewal.

Daley suggested Willis and Lefebvre might have shut down the investigation because they were intimidated by Landry Sr.'s remarks. Snyder disagreed, saying he tried to put himself in the shoes of the two investigators. He felt that once Landry Jr. changed his mind about the polygraph, Willis and Lefebvre had no other options unless more victims came forward.

"I could not think of anything else that could be done (with) that investigation at that time," said Snyder.

Glaude then asked if Snyder found it suspicious that then-chief Claude Shaver made a lengthy phone call to Landry Sr., one that lasted several hours, the day Landry Jr. was arrested. Snyder said after interviewing Shaver at his Brockville home, he was convinced there was nothing suspicious about the call.

Up until Jones asked Snyder if he had any recommendations for the inquiry - which is examining how institutions responded to allegations of historical sexual abuse - the 29-year CPS veteran had answered questions calmly and with little emotion.

But his voice cracked as he encouraged Glaude to remember that the impact of his report would still be felt long after the last witness had descended from the stand.

He also accused the media of suggesting only "one person" on the CPS took alleged victims seriously - a veiled reference to former Cornwall cop Perry Dunlop.

"I strived to be thorough, fair, and compassionate," said Snyder. "For anyone to suggest I did not care about the victims is not only unfair, but is not true."

Snyder returns to the stand today.