Connections made at J.P. Levesque trial between Hobbs, Zaitzeff

The trial of Thunder Bay, Ont., police chief J.P. Levesque got underway Monday with the Crown calling five witnesses, with at least another ten scheduled for the week.

Jason Nicol, the Crown attorney, did not provide an opening statement and went right into bringing witnesses into the courtroom.

Nicol said there will be a number of police officers from the RCMP, OPP and Thunder Bay Police Service, along with some civilians.

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Craig Loverin, the first person to take the stand, referred to himself as a friend of Zaitzeff's. He testified that Hobbs told him that he should be careful if Zaitzeff asked him to sign an affidavit regarding the purchase of a house for Mary Voss, who was Zaitzeff's girlfriend at the time. 

Voss also faces charges of extortion.

Loverin testified that he was asked to meet up with Hobbs at the Metro on River Street, and Hobbs gave him a USB key, to be handed to Zaitzeff. Hobbs told Loverin the USB device contained videos, which would be of interest to Zaitzeff. Loverin said he watched some of the videos with Zaitzeff, which included Zaitzeff saying some profanities to Voss.

Loverin testified that Hobbs and his wife, Marisa, wanted to persuade Zaitzeff to purchase a house for Voss.

Zaitzeff also faces charges of assault, sexual assault, and sexual-related offences.

Loverin said he was concerned about the videos that were given to Zaitzeff and told the RCMP on Dec. 8 about the content of the USB key, while they were at his workplace to have their vehicles washed.

Corporal David Leonard with the RCMP told the court that Loverin seemed concerned on Dec. 8, and after speaking with the officers about his concerns involving the videos and USB drive, it was arranged for Loverin to make a statement at the RCMP detachment.

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Loverin met with RCMP and made a so-called KGB statement, which was taped by the RCMP. Loverin was informed that his statement would be used in open court and would hold up as his original statement, even if Loverin changed his testimony at a later time.

Another RCMP officer, Cst. Daryl Waruk, took the stand in the afternoon, recalling how Loverin said he wanted to deal with the RCMP because he was fearful to talk to Thunder Bay Police about the incident with Hobbs.

Under cross-examination, Waruk said Loverin was concerned that the case would get overlooked, as Hobbs was the mayor.

Critical phone call

Waruk testified that he was a friend of Hobbs and had socialized with him on numerous occasions. He said that, on Nov. 23, 2016, Keith Hobbs contacted him seven times to speak about the arrest of Zaitzeff. Waruk testified that Hobbs seemed proud of this and that Hobbs made it sound as if he had played a role in the arrest.

Zaitzeff was arrested on Nov. 23, 2016.

Waruk said Hobbs called him numerous other times in December, saying he knew there was an investigation going on and that something was said about him and Zaitzeff.

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Waruk immediately met up with his superiors in the Thunder Bay RCMP detachment, including Staff Sgt. Norm Roy, who then arranged to speak with J.P. Levesque about how Hobbs would be aware of an investigation. A call was made to Levesque on Dec. 22, 2016.

Levesque told the RCMP, including Waruk and Roy, who were on the call, that he spoke with Hobbs at a retirement party for then Deputy Police Chief Andy Hay. Levesque told the RCMP he pulled Hobbs aside, and Levesque told Hobbs that he did not want to take a statement and was not cautioning Hobbs, but said that the RCMP are investigating Hobbs, with a statement from the public that he had been extorting somebody.

Another RCMP officer, Corporal Ron Miller, agreed with Waruk's testimony on the content of the phone call to Levesque. Miller added that Levesque apologized to the RCMP for not informing them that he had spoken to Hobbs. Levesque offered up the information, said Miller, and did not attempt to conceal any part of the conversation.

Following the conversation with Levesque, the RCMP made the decision to refer the case directly to the OPP. In a previous meeting on Dec. 16, Levesque, then Deputy Police Chief Andy Hay and then Inspector Sylvie Hauth all agreed that an outside agency should handle the Hobbs investigation.

The trial continues Tuesday morning, with at least ten witnesses expected to be called this week.