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	Cops Never Talked to Extortion Suspect By Trevor Pritchard Standard-Freeholder November 15, 2008 http://www.standard-freeholder.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1298247 Aretired Ontario Provincial Police officer couldn't explain why his officers never interviewed a man suspected of trying to extort at least $100,000 from his former probation officer. "I can't answer that question," Det. Insp. Fred Hamelink told the Cornwall Public Inquiry. Friday was Hamelink's final day on the stand at the inquiry, which is exploring how institutions like the OPP reacted to historical sexual abuse allegations. In February 1994, Hamelink was assigned to investigate whether David Silmser had tried to extort money from Ken Seguin, a local probation officer who had killed himself in November 1993. Ten months earlier, Silmser had told the Cornwall Police Service Seguin had sexually assaulted him when he was his probationer. Silmser also told the CPS he wanted to first proceed with charges against another one of his alleged abusers, Rev. Charles MacDonald. In September 1993, Silmser settled for $32,000 with the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese. That deal included an illegal clause preventing him from pursuing further criminal charges against MacDonald. According to a summary Hamelink compiled on the extortion case, 10 days before Seguin's death, Silmser called Seguin's lawyer, Malcolm MacDonald, and "demanded" $10,000 a year over the next 10-20 years. Silmser also called Seguin twice in November 1993, including the night before he died, the summary showed. Hamelink's officers never directly confronted Silmser about the allegations Silmser's demand amounted to extortion -because at the same time, another OPP detective, Tim Smith, had re-opened the CPS's investigation into MacDonald and needed Silmser as a witness. The original plan was Hamelink's team would not question Silmser until Smith's investigation wrapped up. But before that happened, in October 1994, Hamelink took his summary to regional Crown attorney Peter Griffiths. Citizens for Community Renewal attorney Helen Daley said she "couldn't understand" why Hamelink didn't wait to question Silmser. "You never got there. It didn't occur," Daley said. "Why is it that you finished your work before that happened?" "I can't answer that, ma'am," said Hamelink. Hamelink said he brought all the other witnesses' statements to Griffiths to get his opinion whether there were grounds to charge Silmser with extortion. When that opinion came back negative, Hamelink said he decided his officers would "not go near" Silmser. But according to notes from a November 1993 interview with the CPS, Silmser said he'd threatened to speak to the press unless Silmser gave him money. "Had he been asked the question, there's at least some realm of possibility he would have given you that answer as well," said Daley. "That's a possibility, yes," said Hamelink. Neither Seguin nor MacDonald were ever convicted of sexually abusing children. The inquiry resumes Monday.
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