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One of the Toronto police officers charged in the sweeping police corruption and organized crime investigation dubbed Project South pleaded guilty to two charges Tuesday morning.
Derek McCormick entered a guilty plea for breach of trust and one count of theft under $5,000 in Ontario Court of Justice in Toronto.
The other four charges McCormick was facing — three more counts of theft under $5,000 and one count of obstruction of justice — are set to be with withdrawn.
McCormick is expected to be sentenced by Justice Jonathan Bliss later Tuesday morning.
The Crown and defence proposed a joint submission for a 10-month conditional sentence, which would include five months of house arrest and five months of a 10 p.m. to 7 a.m. curfew.
McCormick’s theft and breach of trust guilty pleas concern the now-retired constable stealing a cellphone that was turned in to him at the front desk of 52 division, according to an agreed statement of facts.
McCormick stole the phone for Toronto police Const. Timothy Barnhardt, who had asked McCormick to get him burner phones, the statement said.
Officer had painkiller addiction, Crown says
Crown prosecutor Vlatko Karadzic said McCormick had a painkiller addiction and was suffering from PTSD at the time of his crimes and had been buying Percocet pills from Barnhardt.
Barnhardt is also charged in Project South and has been described as the “genesis” of the investigation. The allegations against him have not been tested in court.
Karadzic told the court there is no evidence McCormick knew how the phone he provided was used.
“He’s best described as a peripheral player in this project,” Karadzic said of the officer in his sentencing submissions.
McCormick was suspended without pay from Toronto police in May.
McCormick retired from Toronto police at the beginning of July, according to his lawyer, Gary Clewley.
Scope of probe grew
Project South began in June 2025 when York Regional Police thwarted an alleged plot to kill a senior corrections officer at Toronto South Detention Centre.
While investigating that alleged conspiracy, York police discovered that Barnhardt had allegedly shared confidential information about a senior correctional officer with a civilian. Police have then accused the civilian of providing that information to others charged in the alleged murder plot.
From there, the scope of the probe grew to include other alleged police corruption tied to organized crime.
The other six current police officers and a retired constable charged in Project South are expected to make their first appearance in Superior Court of Justice on Wednesday, where prosecutors are proceeding with their cases by direct indictment.
That means the cases will skip a preliminary inquiry, typically used in criminal cases to determine whether prosecutors have enough evidence to proceed with a trial, and head directly to trial.
The Crown has narrowed the scope of charges they’ll prosecute against some of those officers and a few of the civilians headed to Superior Court in their indictments.
