Wanted protest organizer no stranger to court system

Toronto - One of the protest organizers during the G20 Summit that is being sought by police is no stranger to the court system. Kelly Pflug-Back, 21, is being sought by Toronto Police for six counts of mischief over $5,000.

Last summer Pflug-Back was wanted for her part in the Hanlon Creek Business Park protests in Guelph, Ontario. Reporter Stephanie Dearing, Digital Journal, at the time reported that the young woman was suing the Guelph Police for defamation of character after the police released a press release about suspects who hand delivered and read a "threatening" letter to an unnamed person in the town. While she was not named in the statement Dearing reported that Pflug-Back said when the police issued the press release, it was harassment and that act infringed on their rights to freedom of speech. While she was never charged with a crime for the act she did not deny that she did deliver the letter in question. When the Olympic torch was on its way to Vancouver earlier this year it passed through Guelph. Pflug-Back was there protesting. She was also charged with assaulting the torch bearer. Guelph Mercury quoted her at the time: “All it says is that I have been charged with assault,” Pflug-Back said of the police documents. “I wasn’t given a name as to whom I have been charged with assaulting.” Again she fired back filing an assault complaint with the Guelph Police saying she was punched in the face by an RCMP officer. Pflug-Back is back in the news. This time though she is facing serious charges that could land her behind bars. On Wednesday Detective Sergeant Gary Giroux of the G20 Investigative Team named Pflug-Back by name during a press conference. “She caused and, was responsible for, a tremendous amount of damage in the downtown core,” Giroux said, noting she will face six counts of mischief over $5,000 upon arrest. “She is responsible for the direct attack on scout car 766 at Queen and Spadina, as well as her colleagues in the Black Bloc,” he said. The cruiser in question was on Queen Street West when it was attacked with an officer, S/Sgt Graham Queen, inside. While much has been speculated that police cruisers were left in areas so that rioters would damage them Giroux said Wednesday: “The scout car was physically being taken apart by these individuals, as well as this young woman. Windows were being smashed, mirrors were torn off, back windows and side windows smashed,” he said, adding responding officers helped extract Queen from the car. Giroux is requesting that the protester come forward, “My advice to her (Pflug-Back) is to seek your lawyer’s direction and turn yourself in as soon as possible.”