Winnipeg police officer pleads guilty to stealing iPad, iPhone from evidence locker

A longtime Winnipeg officer has pleaded guilty to stealing electronic items from a police evidence locker.

Const. Jeffrey Conrad, a 25-year member of the Winnipeg Police Service, appeared in court Wednesday and pleaded guilty to one count of theft under $5,000. A second charge of criminal breach of trust was stayed by the Crown.

Court heard Conrad was assigned to the evidence control unit last year when he stole an iPad from an evidence locker.

The iPad and other electronic items had been reported stolen in January 2024 and later recovered by police through routine checks of pawn shop transactions, Winnipeg police said in a news release announcing Conrad’s arrest the following September. The electronic items were then placed in the evidence control unit prior to their expected return to their owner.

“Through the course of an investigation, (police) were able to determine that the iPad was in (Conrad’s) possession, and once he was arrested, they also found him to be in possession of an iPhone” that had been stolen from a different victim, Crown attorney Samir Hassan told court Wednesday.

Investigators “were able to determine via the serial number that the phone was also within the evidence locker while (Conrad) was employed in that capacity and was marked for destruction by the accused,” Hassan said.

Conrad will return to court for sentencing on Feb. 11.

Hassan said the Crown will recommend Conrad be sentenced to between eight and 12 months house arrest, depending on the result of reports expected to be filed by the defence.

Conrad is one of several Winnipeg police officers currently facing criminal prosecution.

Last November, three Winnipeg Police Service constables — Elston Bostock, Matthew Kadyniuk and Jonathan Kiazyk — were arrested and charged with a range of offences, including disclosing confidential information, obstructing justice, theft, interfering with a crime scene and breach of trust.

In August, Bostock was taken into custody after he was charged with additional offences, including drug trafficking, knowingly distributing an intimate image and indignity to human remains. Another officer, Const. Vernon Strutinsky, was arrested at the same time and charged with break and enter to commit an indictable offence (extortion) and breach of trust.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca