Arrested and held without charge, unable to leave the Dominican Republic for months, a Guelph man says he feared for his life and those of his family back in Canada as the federal government did little to help.
Rob Di Venanzo, who was a pilot for Pivot Airlines at the time, is suing his then-employer, Canada’s attorney general and three unnamed RCMP officers for $16 million over the ordeal, which began in April 2022 when his crew discovered suspicious bags hidden in their plane which turned out to contain 210 kg of cocaine.
The attorney general and the RCMP investigators knew or ought to have known the plane had been chartered to smuggle drugs into Canada, the lawsuit alleges. At the time of his arrest, police had been investigating for at least two months.
The lawsuit further alleges Pivot failed to appropriately “vet” the customer who chartered the flight, checking only that it had the ability to pay the $200,000 fee. That customer, the claim continues, “appears to have had no legitimate business and (had) been a front for an international drug smuggling organization.”
None of the accusations have been tested in court. Efforts to reach officials with Pivot and the attorney general’s office for comment weren’t immediately successful and no statements of defence have been filed at this time.
“The predictable risks of the defendants’ negligence materialized, changing the course of Captain Di Venanzo’s life. He unwittingly became a puppet in a syndicate’s scheme to import hundreds of kilograms of cocaine into Canada from the Dominican Republic,” reads the statement of claim, filed Friday at a Toronto courthouse.
“The traumatic situations and perpetual fear Captain Di Venanzo endured for over seven months in the Dominican Republic had a continued effect on his wellbeing after his return to Canada. Among other harms, he has suffered feelings of anxiety and worry. He fears leaving Canada, which is a routine aspect of his job as a commercial pilot.”
According to his LinkedIn account, Di Venanzo now works for another airline.
As described in the lawsuit, Di Venanzo and crew were flown to the Dominican Republic in order to fly a plane and seven passengers to Toronto. However, that plane had been left “unlocked and grounded” for several days before the planned return flight.
“Security footage from the Punta Cana International Airport reveals that, at approximately 3:30 a.m. on April 5, an airport transport vehicle hauled several large, dark bags on airport grounds.
Certain camera angles show that within approximately 30 minutes, shadowy figures piled large, dark bags into the ‘nose’ (i.e., front) of the Pivot airplane that would be used to fly the … charter to Toronto. By about 4:00 a.m., all the bags had been loaded onto the plane,” the lawsuit explains. “Footage from other camera angles appears to have been edited to delete the footage of these crucial 30 minutes.”
As Di Venanzo readied the plane for takeoff, he noticed a “master caution” light on, indicating a bay door was open. A Pivot mechanic checked on the door and discovered a large, black duffle bag in an area where storage isn’t considered safe.
In turn, the pilot notified Pivot officials, who informed the RCMP. Di Venanzo alerted Dominican Republic authorities.
Local police arrived shortly after and removed four duffle bags.
Presuming they’d been cleared to take off, the crew readied to leave once again, but the bay door was jammed. Members of the Pivot crew investigated and found four more duffle bags.
When those bags were pointed out to local authorities, the Pivot crew was arrested.
Though not charged, Di Venanzo and crew spent the next nine days in a 12X12 jail cell with 22 other inmates. The cell had no running water and a hole in the floor used as a toilet.
“The cell bosses and other inmates subjected Captain Di Venanzo to repeated harassment and assault,” the lawsuit claims, referring to death threats and attempts to extort money from him. “The threats intensified over time. The cell bosses prevented Captain Di Venanzo from accessing food and water for four days straight to try to induce him to comply.”
A dead body was also put in front of the cell, with Di Venanzo told he’d be killed next “for having found and reported the drug shipment.”
After nine days in jail, the crew was released on bail. However, their passports were seized and they were told not to leave the country.
“Pivot provided Captain Di Venanzo and his crew with a safe house staffed by two 24-hour armed guards. Captain Di Venanzo lived under constant fear that the safe house would be found by a drug cartel or someone else, and he and his crew would be attacked or killed,” the claim states. “Captain Di Venanzo and the crew were repeatedly moved to different safe houses within a larger compound approximately every two months to try to avoid detection. He feared for his wife and children’s safety in Canada.
“Days turned into months as Captain Di Venanzo and his crew remained confined together, under armed guard, in the safe houses.”
Several court appearances were scheduled over the months as prosecutors sought to have the crew’s bail revoked, but those hearings were always postponed for one reason or another.
Then, in November of that year, an investigative Canadian news team visited the Caribbean island and pursued a variety of leads generated from documents, confidential sources and other people they spoke with.
They also accompanied the Pivot crew to court.
“Days later, without warning, Captain Di Venanzo and his crew learned that their passports would be returned to them, and they would be allowed to return to Canada,” the lawsuit states. “In explaining this abrupt change, prosecution officials cited having insufficient evidence to sustain the case against them.”
Di Venanzo and crew arrived back in Canada that December.
“The government of Canada did not take any steps to help Captain Di Venanzo in the days and weeks following his wrongful arrest, even though his arrest was known to the Canadian government and a foreseeable consequence of its own actions,” the lawsuit continues.
“Captain Di Venanzo was among a narrow and distinct group of potential victims at risk from a specific threat known to the RCMP defendants. The RCMP defendants thus owed Captain Di Venanzo a duty of care.”
