Provincial Police issue arrest warrant for Sean Baird; charged with serious Criminal Code offenses.

Crime 100By Staff

December 16th, 20119

BURLINGTON, ON

 

Meed ward election night 1

Marianne Meed Ward celebrating her election win in October 2018

Mayor Marianne Meed Ward announced this morning that she was pleased to learn that the Ontario Provincial Police issued warrants for the arrest of Sean Baird, a Burlington restaurant operator.

Baird was charged with

· Uttering a Forged Document – Contrary to section 368(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada

· Fraud over $5000 – Contrary to section 380(1) of the Criminal Code of Canada

· Corrupt Practice (four counts) – Contrary to the Municipal Elections Act.

Baird was a third party advertiser during the 2018 municipal election. During that election the Gazette identified Baird as the person behind several numbered corporations that were registered as a Third Party Advertiser.

At that time the Gazette was unable to identify which candidate Baird was working on behalf of.

Wallace

Mike Wallace was a candidate for Mayor in the 2018 municipal election

Goldring campaign picture

Rick Goldring was a candidate for Mayor in the 2018 municipal election.

Marianne Meed Ward was running against Rick Goldring, Mike Wallace and Greg Woodruff.  Meed Ward won by a respectable margin.

There was some pretty dirty politics in 2018. Meed Ward wasn’t prepared to let it go and appears to have taken the matter to the Halton Regional Police who turned to the Ontario Provincial Police who investigated and eventually laid charges.

In her statement the Mayor said she “welcomes the news that criminal charges have been laid against and an arrest warrant issued, for Sean Baird, a third-party advertiser that targeted my mayoral campaign in the 2018 municipal election.”

The Provincial Police, in their media release said: “In December 2018, the OPP received a request for assistance from the Halton Regional Police Service. The request was made in relation to allegations of improprieties during the 2018 Mayoral Election in the City of Burlington.

As a result of the investigation, the OPP Anti-Rackets Branch, with the assistance of investigators from Halton Regional Police, have charged Sean BAIRD, 47, who was not involved in the Meed Ward campaign.

The Provincial Police add: “Any person with information regarding the whereabouts of this person is requested to contact the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) at 1-888-310-1122. Should you wish to remain anonymous, you may call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS), where you may be eligible for a cash reward of up to $2000.

Sean Baird appears to be a fugitive from justice.

There are going to be a number of nervous 2018 mayoralty candidates – Baird was working for someone.

Related news stories:

Six numbered corporations registered as Third Party Advertisers.

Baird owns several numbered corporations.

Return to the Front page
Print Friendly, PDF & Email

2 comments to Provincial Police issue arrest warrant for Sean Baird; charged with serious Criminal Code offenses.

  • Lynn Crosby

    This is excellent news. The provincial government should be eliminating third-party advertising altogether. It is and was a mechanism for receiving money from hidden sources and using it to unfairly personally attack candidates with smear campaigns and false accusations. It is completely undemocratic and we should be better than this. This brings back a lot of memories of what went on in our election from various sources.

    We were proud that Burlington citizens rejected all of the negative attacks during the 2018 campaign, though it still shocks me to think of some people in Burlington, whom one would have thought would have the class and integrity to reject and immediately speak out against such acts, who did not. Many not only stayed silent, in some cases for days and in other cases permanently, but also did and continue to follow and like posts from people who still hide and spread negative messages. I hope that every one of our current city councillors speaks in support of this statement today. I recall vividly the silence from many on the prior council when all of this was happening to a colleague.

    And now we wait and see what else may come out during this process. Who contributed money and what was it used for? Who would benefit from the third party ads? Nice that it failed spectacularly though, and the police and Crown are taking it seriously.

  • Elan

    BG: I assume you meant “working for ” 2018 Mayoral Candidates. Beyond this, You have previously reported that Sean Baird owns the Ampersand Group. They, according to the BG, manage 3 restaraunts in Burlington. The website for the Ampersand Group has been down since this original revelation during the election (wonder why), so who knows which restaraunts.. It would be fun to know which establishments are owned by this indicted individual owner. Once known, there is an opportunity to apply pressure. However, we should be careful not to indict innocent bystanders who work in these restaraunts (chefs, managers & servers) via boycotts just yet. It sounds like greater forces are at work to bring justice to Sean Baird. I am sure there are skip tracers employed to track him down.