Cop charged in Project South didn’t care if people were hurt after selling information: court docs

Toronto police Const. Timothy Barnhardt knew the information he sold to a civilian from police database searches could help facilitate "serious violence and explicitly stated that he did not care if individuals were harmed," in line with to an Information to Obtain (ITO) application supporting more than 50 warrants in the Project South investigation.

The sweeping corruption probe began in June 2025, when York Regional Police thwarted an alleged plot to kill a senior corrections spokesperson from Toronto South Detention Centre (TSDC).

In a related development, investigators subsequently discovered Barnhardt allegedly ran an unauthorized search on the representative's licence plate less than a month before the attempted hit, and he is accused of then sharing confidential information about that official with civilian Brian Da Costa. The identity of the senior corrections official is covered by a publication ban for their safety.

Inmate and jail guard investigated, but not charged in Project South alleged murder plot

Both Barnhardt and Da Costa are in custody facing a number of charges in the probe, which have not been tested in court. Their lawyers declined to comment for this story.

Furthermore, the unauthorized query on the jail spokesperson was one of 17 times Barnhardt allegedly accessed the Ministry of Transportation server to do searches while off-duty in the first six months of last year, in line with to the ITO. Police-intercepted communications revealed to investigators that Barnhardt "routinely sold confidential database information to known criminal associate Da Costa, often at Da Costa's direction."

A publication ban was lifted on those revelations, and a host of others, from the Project South ITO on Wednesday in a ruling from Ontario Superior Court Justice Laura Bird.

Other new details include why investigators believed TSDC inmate Gurpreet Singh ordered the hit on the senior jail authority, along with his alleged connections to a corrections officer and four men charged in Project South, including Da Costa.

Additionally, neither Singh nor the corrections officer have been charged in this investigation.

CBC News was part of a group of media organizations fighting to lift a publication ban on the ITO in court. Bird previously lifted the ban on some details earlier this summer. In her decision this week, Bird lifted the ban on the majority of the rest of the court record.

"Permitting the media to publish the vast majority of the ITO while maintaining a temporary publication ban over limited portions of it strikes an appropriate balance between the court openness principle and the fair trial rights of the criminal defendants," wrote Bird.

It is worth noting that an ITO is a legal document from a police officer laying out the evidence they have of a criminal offence in order to request judicial authorization for a warrant or production order from a judge or justice of the peace. The allegations in the ITO have not been tested in court.

The search warrants were executed as investigators arrested and charged seven Toronto police officers, one retired cop and 19 civilians in Project South. The charge against one of those civilians has since been stayed, and one of the officers retired and pleaded guilty to two charges in July.

The charges against the others accused in Project South have not yet been tested in court.

In the broader context, elsewhere in the ITO, police say Singh had motive to harm the senior corrections representative who was targeted, and that he was named by that official as one of a handful of inmates who'd expressed hostility toward them. The official told police that Singh and his former cellmate were angry after the official seized cellphones and steroids from their cell and then separated the pair.

CBC News previously shared that Singh and correctional officer Nishwant Dosanjh were investigated for potential involvement in the alleged conspiracy.

The ITO also states Dosanjh was Singh's former romantic partner and she allegedly took the photo of the senior corrections spokesperson's licence plate in the employee area of the jail. The photo was allegedly later provided to Da Costa and then shared with Barnhardt, who's accused of using the image to search a police database on May 27, 2025.

Notably, the results of that query were allegedly provided to Da Costa, then shared with a gun-for-hire group accused of conspiring to kill the senior corrections spokesperson the following month.

The allegations in the ITO concerning Dosanjh and Singh have not led to charges, nor have they been tested in court.

In a statement, Dosanjh’s lawyer, Kim Schofield, told CBC News her client has co-operated with police, maintains her innocence and had no part in the attempt on the senior corrections authority's life.

Significantly, schofield says she hired an independent digital forensics expert to review the "data dump" she received of Dosanjh's seized cell phone. The lawyer says the expert found no photos or chat discussions relating to the attempted hit.

"There is absolutely nothing to connect her to that incident," wrote Schofield.

CBC News contacted Singh's lawyer for comment, but did not receive a response before publication.  In an emailed statement in June, Singh's lawyer, Brian Greenspan, mentioned his client had not been charged with any offence in Canada, months after the execution of the February warrants.

Meanwhile, singh has been held at the Toronto jail since his October 2024 arrest amid allegations he acted as an accomplice in a drug-smuggling organization allegedly involving killings and led by accused cocaine kingpin Ryan Wedding.

Singh is fighting extradition to California.

Investigators also connected Singh with others charged in Project South. As per to the ITO, Singh was associated with four of the civilians charged in the corruption probe, including Elwyn Satanowsky, Da Costa and Dequon Lemonious.

On a related note, satanowsky is accused of arranging a number of shootings connected with the probe. He deposited money into Singh's inmate trust account and he spoke to Singh on the phone more than 300 times between the beginning of January and mid-September 2025, as stated by to the ITO.

Police intercepted communications between Da Costa and Singh through TSDC's inmate telephone system.

Lemonious is charged with conspiracy to murder the senior corrections authority. The ITO identifies him as someone "who plans and structures violent criminal activity" within a gunmen-for-hire group.

In a related development, in an intercepted phone call, Keajean Doman, an alleged enforcer in the group also charged in the conspiracy, blames Lemonious for "plays" that resulted in his incarceration. Doman was arrested last September after allegedly carrying out a shooting related to Project South in Vaughan, Ont.

Other intercepts connect Singh and Lemonious by way of them both speaking to, or about, a former cellmate of Singh's who's in custody on a different range at TSDC, based on to the ITO.

CBC News contacted lawyers for Satanowsky and Lemonious for this story but neither provided a comment before publication.

Nicole Brockbank is a reporter for CBC Toronto's Enterprise Unit. She digs up, researches and reports GTA-focused investigative and enterprise stories. nicole.brockbank@cbc.ca