Rob Ford court documents detail the night that sent mayor to rehab
While Rob Ford undergoes chemotherapy treatments for a malignant tumour, a judge has released the latest search warrant documents surrounding the Toronto mayor, his former friend Sandro Lisi, his sister Kathy and a man who allegedly supplied the mayor with crack, Michael "Jugga" James.
The documents are the latest in an investigation into some of the characters surrounding Ford during his recent drug-taking.
Justice Ian Nordheimer of the Ontario Superior Court allowed the release of the search warrant application — known as an information-to-obtain, or ITO — to the media. He is the same judge who allowed previous ITOs, which confirmed the mayor's drug use, to be released to media earlier in Ford's term.
The new documents describe a party in Kathy Ford's basement, which gained notoriety because Ford was filmed smoking a crack pipe that night and left office to seek treatment when the photos came out in the press.
The police documents describe the following:
On the evening of April 25, the mayor's driver, Jerry Agyemang, dropped Ford off at his older sister's home in Etobicoke.
Kathy Ford told police that when he arrived, the mayor was already intoxicated.
Kathy Ford told investigators she went to the basement of the home with the mayor and Lisi, at which point the mayor continued to drink.
Then some time later, James knocked on the door.
Kathy Ford greeted James and asked him to join the group in the basement.
She said she knew James deals cocaine, crack and heroin. A police informant quoted in the ITO also said James was "dealing."
James supplied the mayor and his sister with crack, according to Kathy Ford.
Mayor Ford was consuming the crack when he was photographed with a pipe in his hand by James, she said.
According to other reports from the evening, the mayor assaulted Lisi and was confrontational to James. But both Kathy Ford and James ruled out any assault.
Kathy Ford said the mayor and Lisi were playfully fighting during the night. She described it as "kidding around fighting."
James corroborated the play fighting. Kathy Ford said the mayor became "loud and boisterous" and James left.
But before he left, according to the documents, James surreptitiously recorded the mayor smoking the crack. He made three videos on his iPhone, it is suspected, but the microphone did not work so there is no sound.
In the days after the night in Kathy Ford's basement, James approached various media in an effort to sell the video.
The Globe and Mail paid James and another man, who police call S. Pablo, a reported $10,000 for stills from the video.
The night the photos appeared on both Gawker and the Globe and Mail website, mayor Ford put out a statement saying he would be seeking professional help. He would be temporarily withdrawing from the mayoral race, he announced at the time.
The next morning, his nephew Michael Ford, Kathy's son, drove him to an airport where he flew to Chicago, only to return right away after withdrawing his request to enter the U.S., according to a consular official. He then ended up at GreeneStone, a rehabilitation facility near Muskoka.
He resumed his mayoral campaign in July, until he withdrew when he received news he would have to undergo chemotherapy for a malignant tumour in his abdomen.
James was initially charged in relation to a pair of brass knuckles police found, but those charges have been dropped.
Lisi faces extortion and drug-related charges.
To read the entire document, see here.
