Senior northern Ont. police sergeant pleads guilty to pointing gun at rookie cops

First Nations police officer charged A senior member of the Anishinabek Police Service has been charged with several weapons-related offenses.

A 67-year-old detective staff sergeant with the Anishinabek Police Service in northern Ontario has pleaded guilty to pointing his service pistol at colleagues and using a gun in a careless manner.

Complaints from several fellow APS officers led to an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police professional standards unit.

As a result of the investigation, Tony Hanson was charged in June 2023 with 18 criminal offences.

Hanson is a long-time member of the Indigenous police service starting in 2002.

The charges include nine counts each of using his police service-issued Glock 9 mm in a careless manner and pointing it at three different rookie officers on several different occasions.

Court documents obtained by CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca state the incidents occurred between Oct. 7, 2020, and April 1, 2022, at the Pic River APS detachment in Biigtigong Nishnaabeg, near Marathon in northwestern Ontario.

A dozen of the charges involve one officer.

After the charges were laid last year, Hanson was suspended with pay.

In a hearing Feb. 16, he pleaded guilty to one of each criminal charge, for a total of two.

Requests for comment sent to APS Acting Chief of Police Marc Lesage went unanswered.

Hanson is listed on the Ontario Sunshine List with APS as staff sergeant professional standards from 2006 to 2008 with salaries ranging from $106,670 to $112,873.

The judge ordered a pre-sentence report, which will outline his background and will be used to inform the sentencing decision.

The penalty in Canada for a conviction of pointing a firearm is up to five years in prison and up to two years of imprisonment for careless use of a gun.

His next court date is scheduled for July 18 at 2 p.m.