Mountie convicted

Suspended RCMP constable living in Airdrie convicted of 14 charges

By Nadia Moharib & Katie Schneider — QMI Agency

Once sworn to uphold the law, a suspended RCMP officer was convicted of more than a dozen criminal charges including extortion and criminal harassment.

In Red Deer court Friday, Const. Hoa La was convicted of 14 charges, including two counts of extortion, two counts of criminal harassment and 10 counts of fraud over $5,000.

La, who is from Airdrie and worked in the passport and immigration section in Calgary, turned himself in to RCMP and was charged in connection to real estate deals.

The charges, filed in 2009, were the result of a lengthy RCMP investigation following a complaint about the officer’s business dealings in November 2006.

It was alleged he made “false representations,” between 2005 and 2008 tied to properties he owned in various parts of central Alberta, with Mounties alleging he lied to banks to acquire mortgages and purchase the residences.

Shortly after, Mounties said in a statement it was “alleged that there was criminal harassment of tenants at some of these locations.”

Girl, 12, threatened; police search for suspect

By: Gabrielle Giroday

The Winnipeg Police Service Sex Crimes Unit is investigating after a 12-year-old girl was threatened.

The girl was walking near Riverton Avenue and Brazier Street Thursday at about 8 p.m. when a stranger came up to her and said he’d hurt her if she didn’t do what he wanted.

The man then held the girl, before she managed to run away to safety. She was not hurt physically in the incident.

Police are now looking for a bald black man is his thirties. He had a goatee and is about 5’7 or 5’8.

Handout Shirish Chotalia is the chairwoman of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal.

Canada’s human rights chief harassed staff, engaged in ‘bizarre’ behaviour: report says
Postmedia News Jan 8, 2012 – 9:49 PM ET | Last Updated: Jan 8, 2012 9:50 PM ET

By Chris Cobb
OTTAWA – An independent labour investigator has upheld harassment complaints against the head of Canada’s premier human rights adjudication agency, the Ottawa Citizen has learned.

The rulings that Shirish Chotalia, the Conservative-appointed chairperson of the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, harassed two subordinates and engaged in “baffling, if not bizarre” behaviour is the latest twist in a series of upheavals since the Edmonton lawyer took charge of the agency on Sept. 9. 2009.