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A Toronto police officer who pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining a computer service in connection with the Project South police corruption investigation was handed a conditional discharge Monday.<\/p>\n
Elias Mouawad, 25, conducted an illegal licence plate search at the request of a former employer, according to an agreed statement of facts in the case.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A conditional discharge means Mouawad was found guilty, but will not have a criminal record if he abides by the conditions of his one-year probation, which includes the 100 hours of community service.<\/p>\n
He was one of several officers charged in Project South, the months-long police corruption and organized crime investigation led by York Regional Police.<\/p>\n
Mouawad\u2019s defence lawyer Peter Brauti, who was seeking a conditional discharge, said his client is relieved and wants to move forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was somebody who really shouldn’t have been included in Project South,\u201d Brauti said outside court Monday.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe wasn’t engaged in any of the serious misconduct they’ve alleged in that bigger file, but he got caught up in it and he was a small fish in what’s clearly a big case.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Defence lawyer Peter Brauti argued for a conditional discharge for his client Elias Moawad, who is seen wiping away tears in Ontario Superior Court on Sept. 28, 2026. (Pam Davies\/CBC)<\/p>\n
The Crown was seeking a four-month sentence \u2014 two months of house arrest and two months of curfew \u2014 and a minimum of one year of probation.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brauti argued that would hurt Mouawad\u2019s employment prospects and he\u2019d be more likely to be demoted or fired by the Toronto police.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cHe made a mistake right from the very beginning. He admitted it upon arrest so he’s taking full responsibility,\u201d Brauti said of his client.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe now has an opportunity to go to a disciplinary hearing and fight for his job. And he intends to do so because policing was his lifelong dream.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mouawad apologized tearfully at September plea hearing<\/p>\n
When Mouawad pleaded guilty last month<\/a>, he wiped away tears as he read an apology letter aloud in the courtroom and committed to becoming a better person.<\/p>\n “I devoted myself wholeheartedly to serve others and be the best police officer I could be,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “The road is long but not impossible. I will do everything in my power to rebuild what was lost.”\u00a0<\/p>\n Court heard Mouawad worked as a security guard before becoming a police officer and his former employer, who is also his co-accused in the Project South case, asked him to run the licence plate.\u00a0<\/p>\n The two spoke on FaceTime on Jan. 19, which York Regional Police intercepted, according to the agreed statement of facts.<\/p>\n They discussed a photo of the licence plate linked to a person who, court heard, is listed in multiple historical RCMP substance trafficking investigations at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport.<\/p>\n When Mouawad questioned who the information was for, the former boss reassured him he knew the person and that Mouawad would not get in trouble for the search.<\/p>\n Court heard Mouawad didn\u2019t know who would receive the results of the search or what the information would be used for.\u00a0<\/p>\n It was eventually shared with Brian Da Costa, an alleged drug trafficker and a key player in the corruption probe, who remains in custody.<\/p>\n Project South began after alleged attempted murder plot<\/p>\n Project South began in June 2025 when York Regional Police stopped an alleged plot to kill a senior corrections officer at Toronto South Detention Centre.\u00a0<\/p>\n During that investigation, York police discovered that a Toronto police officer allegedly shared confidential information about that jail official with Da Costa.\u00a0<\/p>\n An aerial view of York Regional Police officers thwarting an alleged attempted murder of a senior corrections officer on June 20, 2025. (York Regional Police)<\/p>\n Da Costa is accused of providing that information to an alleged gun-for-hire network <\/a>that disseminated the information to others who are charged in the alleged murder plot.<\/p>\n The allegations against Da Costa have not yet been tested in court.\u00a0<\/p>\n The scope of the probe grew to include other alleged police corruption<\/a> tied to organized crime.\u00a0<\/p>\n In total, seven Toronto police officers, one retired constable and 19 civilians were initially charged in Project South.\u00a0<\/p>\n Mouawad had only been a police officer for a year and a half prior to his arrest and was suspended without pay on Feb. 4.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/1792434143_270_default.jpg\")
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