Durham officer arrested & suspended after drug trafficking investigation

A Durham regional police officer with 14 years experience faces almost a dozen charges and has been suspended from duty, with pay, after a cocaine trafficking investigation.

Project Lodestar began in March and ended with a series of raids Friday morning. Over the course of the investigation, which focused on street-level drug dealing in Oshawa, 30 people were arrested.

Police say they found $300,000 worth of drugs, including cocaine, marijuana and oxycontin; five guns, six vehicles, and over $800,000 in cash in the busts.

Durham police as well as the RCMP, OPP, Peel, York and Toronto police raided nine homes Friday morning.

Const. Tara Kramp, 38, was arrested Tuesday and is facing 10 criminal charges.

Kramp has been charged with trafficking in a controlled substance, conspiracy to traffic in a controlled substance, unsafe storage of a firearm, attempt to obstruct justice, possession of stolen property, fraud under $5,000, and breach of trust.

Police said Kramp faces four charges of unsafe storage of a firearm, but added the guns were legally owned and registered.

Durham regional police spokesperson Sgt. Nancy van Rooy confirmed Kramp had been suspended with pay. Kramp worked in the Centralized Alternative Response Unit, where she took phone reports for lower-priority incidents like car break-ins or other crimes where there were no suspects and no emergency, Rooy said.

Also arrested were Jeremy Russell, 31; Gailanne Duvale, 40; Roderick Ayre, 25; Stephen Frost, 35; Keith Hatch, 26; and Alicia Gray, 40.

Police said the full list of those arrested would be released next week.

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