Newly released affidavit sheds light on investigation into police officer accused of drug trafficking

A heavily redacted affidavit from a Winnipeg police detective fills in details about a year-long investigation into fellow officer Trent Milan's conduct that resulted in 34 charges being laid against Milan.

In September 2016, Milan, 42, was arrested and accused of several offences including breach of trust, trafficking drugs, possessing a prohibited weapon and theft. Milan had been working as a police officer in Winnipeg for more than 15 years.

Three weeks later, Milan died after crashing his vehicle into a gravel truck.

In a 43-page sworn affidavit dated Sept. 13, 2016, Det. Ravi Misir describes the long process of building a case against Milan, including an undercover "integrity test" involving a faked vehicle theft and $300 planted by police that led to the discovery of drugs in Milan's locker at work.

CBC obtained the affidavit on Wednesday. It was part of an Information to Obtain a search warrant, provided by Misir to a judge in an effort to obtain a search warrant for Milan's home.

'Serious criminal allegations'

According to the affidavit, Misir's involvement in the case began in February 2016 when he met with a pair of detective sergeants from the WPS professional standards unit and was briefed on an open file centred on Milan.

In the meeting, the officers informed Misir about "serious criminal allegations" made against Milan in recent months by two different WPS members.

Misir states that in December 2015, one of the WPS members came forward to the professional standards unit to inform the unit that, four years prior, he had "discovered a quantity of various types of drugs in Milan's personal property" while at Milan's home in Oakbank.

Several of the details regarding the discovery were redacted from the document.

"Sometime in 2011 while [redacted] was at Milan's residence in Oakbank, Manitoba ... he remembered Milan showing him [redacted]," the affidavit reads.

"Milan told him not to tell anyone [redacted.]"

Misir then writes that information brought forward by the member corroborated previous allegations against Milan.

'Integrity test' in August 2016

According to Misir, on Aug. 11, 2016, members of the professional standards unit carried out an "integrity test" to "establish whether Trent Milan, if posed with the opportunity, will commit a crime and conceal his actions.

"The result of this test has shown it is reasonably apparent that he will," Misir states in the affidavit.

To conduct the test, police obtained a salvage write-off vehicle in late July 2016 and wired it for audio and video. Police then filled the vehicle with items taken from the evidence control unit to make it appear as though it was a stolen vehicle that had been involved in a break-in.

Among the items was a "drug backpack" that contained drug paraphernalia including a scale, a score sheet, small reusable bags and $300 in polymer bills.

In early August, an undercover police officer using the false identity Denis Berard reported the vehicle stolen in Winnipeg.

Several days later, police deployed the vehicle in the area in which Milan was working with a partner and entered a call for service to recover it. Milan and his partner responded to the call, arranged for a tow truck to take the vehicle to a compound and took its contents to a WPS station as per police policy.

Milan's partner completed a report documenting everything the pair had seized. Everything was accounted for except for the $300 that had been in the backpack.

Cocaine, methamphetamine in locker

Following the integrity test, police monitored Milan and his partner and looked for the missing currency in areas the pair had been, Misir writes in the affidavit.

Four days later, police obtained a warrant for a "sneak and peek" into Milan's locker at work in an attempt to locate the missing $300, Misir states.

Detectives didn't find the cash. However, they did find a black case containing what appeared to be cocaine and methamphetamine later determined to have a street value of $850.

The detectives seized the drugs to be tested and replaced them with fake look-alike products, Misir writes.

At the time of Milan's arrest, then-Deputy Chief Danny Smyth called the case a "dark chapter" for the Winnipeg Police Service