A friend of a convicted drug dealer who was killed in a double shooting at an Ottawa mall in October has been relieved of his duties at the Department of National Defence.
Joey Medaglia worked for the commander of Canada's navy since 2009. Sources say he had the second-highest level of security clearance possible and had access to highly sensitive documents coming in and out of the admiral's office.
At the same time, Medaglia maintained a close friendship with Graham Thomas, a convicted drug dealer with strong ties to the Hell's Angels and Montreal crime families, who was gunned down in a double shooting in an east Ottawa shopping mall Oct. 26.
Medaglia is also the godfather of Thomas' children.
Officials from DND said they didn't know the extent of the pair's relationship or how much Medaglia knew of Thomas' past.
"Immediately after being made aware of a possible association between Mr. Joey Medaglia and Mr. Graham Thomas, the commander of the Royal Canadian Navy, Vice-Admiral Paul Maddison . . . asked that the situation be investigated," a spokesperson said in a statement in November.
Military police began investigating the relationship between Thomas and Medaglia in November, just days after the shooting.
At the time, Senator Colin Kenny said the military had a responsibility to investigate.
"He absolutely had access to a great deal of classified information, my understanding is he saw virtually everything coming into Vice-Admiral Maddison's office," he said. "That being said, we have no reason to believe that he misused it."
Medaglia was working in a different role at DND while he was being investigated. He no longer occupied a position there as of March 27.
