Disgraced former WPS officer pleads guilty to drug-trafficking charge

A disgraced former city police constable still awaiting sentencing for a string of corruption offences has now pleaded guilty to selling drugs to friends and other officers, often while on duty.

Elston Bostock pleaded guilty Monday to one count of trafficking drugs — including cocaine, MDMA (ecstasy), psilocybin (magic mushrooms) and illicit marijuana — between January 2016 and November 2024.

“There is no evidence of a profit motive for the drug trafficking; it is akin to social trafficking to friends and colleagues,” Crown attorney Janna Hyman told court, reading from an agreed statement of facts. “The amounts trafficked are personal use amounts for the buyers.”

Evidence of the drug trafficking was uncovered after investigators seized Bostock’s cellphone as part of an ongoing probe into his alleged criminal activities.

“The accused was paid for the drugs he supplied to his friends and colleagues in a mix of cash, bartered items and favours,” Hyman said.

In a September 2020 message exchange, Bostock told an officer that a known drug dealer had “stopped by” and given him some “high grade” MDMA. The officer asked Bostock if he had any cannabis edibles he could sell him. Bostock said yes, and also offered the officer microdose capsules of psilocybin and MDMA gummies. In a July 2022 exchange, the officer asked for more cannabis edibles, which Bostock offered to deliver while he was on duty.

In November 2020, another officer messaged Bostock requesting cannabis edibles and psilocybin, saying he was “leery” of purchasing drugs online. Bostock told the officer he could source both drugs and quoted him a price, with both men going on to discuss the effects of using the drugs.

“Bostock said that he was at ‘special duty’ and just had 50 milligrams of cannabis edibles on his way in and the effects lasted for three hours,” Hyman said.

In February 2023, another officer asked Bostock if his “pharmacist buddy” could get him an anti-anxiety medication without a prescription. The officer told Bostock he was applying for a job with another police service and had heard the medication could help him “get through” a required lie-detector test.

“The accused was paid for the drugs he supplied to his friends and colleagues in a mix of cash, bartered items and favours.”

“Bostock said he would ask if he can get a few,” Hyman said.

The agreed statement of facts documents 10 incidents in which Bostock discussed or arranged the purchase or sale of drugs with friends and acquaintances, including a July 2022 drug deal where Bostock arranged to pay his cocaine supplier $500 outside the West District police station on Grant Avenue.

In another July 2022 exchange, Bostock advised a friend asking whether he should take cocaine with him on a plane.

In that same conversation, Bostock warned his friend to be careful when buying cocaine “because he he was running into people using cocaine that was cut with meth, causing them to have paranoid delusions,” Hyman said. “The friend confirmed that, ‘I only touch your stuff.’”

In one September 2024 incident, Bostock told a friend to meet him at the legislature to pick up some cannabis edibles.

“Tell protective services guy… that you are here to see the policeman and I’ll walk down,” Bostock told his friend.

On Nov. 7, Bostock pleaded guilty to five counts of breach of trust and one count each of attempting to obstruct justice, obstructing a police officer, theft under $5,000 and disseminating confidential information. He also pleaded guilty to offering an indignity to human remains for sharing a picture he took of the body of a partially nude woman who had died of a drug overdose.

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Bostock, a 22-year veteran of the Winnipeg Police Service, was first arrested in November 2024, along with two other officers. He was arrested on more charges in August, along with a newly charged fourth officer. The arrests were the culmination of a lengthy internal probe by the WPS professional standards investigators, with help from the Independent Investigation Unit of Manitoba.

Court heard last fall that Bostock repeatedly tried, sometimes successfully, to get traffic tickets for friends and associates voided, usually in exchange for liquor or gift cards. He also repeatedly looked up licence plate numbers in internal police databases, passing on personal confidential information to drug dealers and other named “associates,” court heard.

Bostock will return to court for sentencing on all charges on Jan. 13. He remains in custody.

Chief Gene Bowers said at city hall on Dec. 5 that Bostock, who was previously suspended without pay, is no longer a member of the WPS.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca

Dean Pritchard
Courts reporter

Dean Pritchard is courts reporter for the Free Press. He has covered the justice system since 1999, working for the Brandon Sun and Winnipeg Sun before joining the Free Press in 2019. Read more about Dean.

Every piece of reporting Dean produces is reviewed by an editing team before it is posted online or published in print — part of the Free Press‘s tradition, since 1872, of producing reliable independent journalism. Read more about Free Press’s history and mandate, and learn how our newsroom operates.