He was arrested, lost his job and fought for two years to clear his name. Then a ‘deeply flawed' police investigation fell apart in court
May 26, 2025
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By Frédérik PlanteInvestigative Reporter
Early in the morning of May 11, 2020, Xu Chen woke up to the sound of people breaking into the Scarborough house where he rented a room.
Chen, then a 56-year-old program supervisor with the Toronto Community Housing Corporation (TCHC), thought it was a robbery and locked his bedroom door. Intruders smashed through it, he said, ordered him to lie down at gunpoint and handcuffed him.
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Frédérik Plante is a Toronto-based investigative reporter for the Star. You can reach him at fplante@thestar.ca, @fx_plante on X or @fxplante.bsky.social on
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