UPDATED THURSDAY NIGHT: Toronto Police finally confirmed Thursday what The Sun first reported Tuesday – that it was in fact Sukh Deo who was gunned down in a busy area of mid-town Toronto.

There are asking for more information about the black vehicle the suspects used to escape from the crime scene.

And they released a statement from Deo’s family, which says in part:

“This is a very difficult time for Sukhvir’s…family. There have been many things written and said about Sukh alleging all manner of things that are not true. To his family, he was a loving son, a loving brother and a loving husband and a loving father of two very young children. His family is shattered by his death. The family wants whomever is responsible for this to be brought for justice.” 

Det. Sgt. Joyce Schertzer asks for information in the murder of Sukh Deo

They are asking for anyone with information to contact Detective Sergeant Joyce Schertzer at 1-416-808-7400

 EARLIER POST:

Services continued to be tight-lipped Wednesday about the murder the day before of a former Metro Vancouver gangster.

 But word of the death of Sukhvir Deo spread across the country among those who knew him.

My follow-up story below has some confirmation of his Wolf Pack links. And I confirmed with Halton Regional Police that he was facing drug trafficking and proceeds of crime charges there.

We know the suspects were two men in construction vests who fled in a black car. But there has been nothing else released about them.

Many Real Scoop readers have theories about what happened. Please don’t state the full names of people you think are linked to this or I’ll have to delete the comments.

And if you have tips or ideas for follow-up, please email me at kbolan@postmedia.com

Here’s my story:

Slain Vancouver gangster had recent links to Wolf Pack gang alliance

A former Vancouver gangster who was gunned down in Toronto had been involved in the Wolf Pack gang alliance, sources said Wednesday.

Sukhvir Singh Deo, 34, was shot to death just before 3 p.m. local time near the busy intersection of Yonge and Eglinton.

Toronto police still have not released his name, but the Sun confirmed his identity with his family and with police in B.C.

When Deo lived in Metro Vancouver, he was aligned with the Independent Soldiers gang, Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of B.C.’s anti-gang agency said on Wednesday.

“His historical gang association or connection is to the Independent Soldiers and to certain people involved with the Independent Soldiers,” said Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.

But Deo has been better known as a Wolf Pack member since moving to Ontario in 2013. 

Some members of the IS, along with some in the Hells Angels and some Red Scorpion gangsters are using the Wolf Pack identity, Houghton said.

“Certain people and part of the IS and their alignments would consider themselves under the Wolf Pack umbrella,” he said. “You have to look at it like cells.”

Houghton said the Wolf Pack has both national and international connections despite its B.C. origins.

Deo was close to two original Wolf Pack members — Hells Angel Larry Amero and James Riach of the IS.

The Sun obtained a photo taken several years ago in which Deo is posing with Amero and with Independent Soldier Don Lyons.

Amero and Riach were targeted along with Red Scorpion leader Jon Bacon in a 2011 shooting in Kelowna. Bacon was killed, Amero was wounded and Riach was grazed.

Amero was later arrested in Montreal and implicated in an international drug ring. He remains in jail there awaiting trial.

Riach was picked up in the Philippines and charged with drug trafficking, but the case later fell apart. His current whereabouts are unknown.

After the 2011 shooting, Wolf Pack members were warring on the streets of Metro Vancouver with rivals from the so-called Dhak-Duhre group.

Deo’s name had surfaced in connection with the May 2012 murder in Port Moody of Duhre associate Gurbinder (Bin) Toor. Toor’s 40th birthday would have been Monday.

No charges have been laid in the murder. Port Moody Police Const. Angela Fisher said Wednesday that there’s no update on the Toor murder investigation.

Deo’s uncle Sohan told The Sun his nephew had a big trucking company in Ontario.

He was successful enough to sit courtside at Raptors playoff games and drive a fleet of luxury vehicles, including the white Range Rover in which he was killed. (Deo was ejected from Game 4 of the playoff series between the Raptors and the Cavaliers last month for heckling the referees.)

But Deo was also facing drug and proceeds of crime charges in Ontario.

“Sukhvir Deo was on charges with us related to drugs and property-related offences,” Halton Regional Police Sgt. Barry Malciw said Wednesday. Halton is a region southwest of Greater Toronto.

Deo family members were gathering in the Toronto area Wednesday. His father Parminder, who is facing international drug smuggling charges in India, travelled from Vancouver to Toronto on Tuesday night. 

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-tag

twitter.com/kbolan

UPDATE – Doak was sentenced to seven years today (I was off so am just posting the release from the U.S. Attorney’s office.)

CANADIAN DRUG TRAFFICKER WHO FOUGHT EXTRADITION FOR YEARS SENTENCED TO 7 YEARS IN PRISON

Leader of Helicopter Smuggling Ring Moved Cocaine North and Marijuana and Ecstasy South across U.S./Canada Border

One of the leaders of a drug smuggling ring that moved loads of drugs across the northern border with Canada in devices ranging from helicopters to backpacks was sentenced today in U.S. District Court in Seattle to seven years in prison, announced U.S. Attorney Annette L. Hayes.  SEAN WILLIAM DOAK, 42 of Vernon, British Columbia, Canada was indicted in 2010, for his leadership of a cross border drug smuggling ring that operated from at least 2007-2009.  DOAK was extradited to the U.S. in 2015, and pleaded guilty in December 2015 to Conspiracy to possess with the intent to distribute marijuana, cocaine and ecstasy.  At today’s sentencing U.S. District Judge Robert S. Lasnik noted that the drugs trafficked by DOAK’s organization damaged users and fed addiction across the U.S. and Canada.  The judge asked DOAK how he could reconcile his position as a supportive family man, with the damage he had done to other families with his drug trafficking.

 According to records filed in the case, DOAK was operating his drug trafficking ring even as he was on work release for a drug sentence in Canada.  DOAK and his co-conspirators arranged for loads of drugs to be smuggled across the United States/Canada border by truckers, hikers and snowmobilers, and increasingly towards the end of the charged conspiracy, by helicopters.  The MDMA and marijuana originated in Canada and was transported south into the United States; the cocaine was obtained in Southern California and transported into Canada.

 At various times law enforcement seized large loads of drugs connected to the ring: 200,000 MDMA pills on March 6, 2008; 72 kilograms of cocaine seized on March 10, 2008; 83 kilograms of cocaine seized on February 21, 2009; 20 kilograms of cocaine seized on February 28, 2009; 420 pounds of marijuana seized on February 23, 2009; and 325 pounds of marijuana and 40,000 MDMA pills seized on March 5, 2009.

 Other co-conspirators have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 10 years in prison to 18 months in prison. 

EARLIER STORY:

Chilliwack drug smuggler Sean Doak has been in the news on and off for the last decade. He was the subject of a high-profile trial in New Westminster Supreme Court in 2006, resulting in his conviction for conspiracy to export marijuana and a seven-year sentence.

Justice Selwyn Romilly said Doak headed “a massive conspiracy to transport tons of marijuana from British Columbia into the United States of America…The modes of transportation for the marjhuana included fixed wing aircraft, helicopters, semi-trailers and by foot.”

Almost as soon as Doak was released on parole, he got right back involved in the drug trade. And he was charged in the U.S. this time with being a leading member of another major cross-border smuggling gang.

He fought his extradition for years, finally losing a bid to have the Supreme Court of Canada to hear his appeal last fall.

Since then he has been in U.S. custody.

Here’s my story:

B.C. man admits leading cross-border drug-smuggling operation, knows ‘how bad it looks’

A B.C. man being sentenced in Seattle Friday for leading a major drug-smuggling ring says he’s turned his life around since the charges were laid against him in 2009.

Sean Doak wants U.S. Federal Court Judge Robert Lasnik to consider how far he’s come in his rehabilitation despite years of involvement in the B.C. drug trade.

“I have chosen to live a different life and have lost all interest in criminal activity,” Doak, 42, said in a letter to the judge filed this week.

“I recognize how bad it looks and is that I reoffended while on parole. This was a relapse in my criminal addiction and I am sorry for this.”

His lawyer Michele Shaw is asking Lasnik to sentence Doak to seven years in jail.

But the U.S. Attorney wants a sentence that is six months longer, noting that Doak “fought extradition tooth and nail” before the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear his appeal last October.

“Mr. Doak was the leader and organizer of this group because he was the one with experience, connections, money and knowledge of the Canadian drug trafficking world,” Asst. U.S. Attorney Susan Roe said in her sentencing memo.

“Mr. Doak and his co-conspirators arranged for loads of drugs to be smuggled across the United States/Canada border by truckers, hikers and snowmobilers, and increasingly towards the end of the charged conspiracy, by helicopter.”

When some of the drugs were intercepted by U.S. authorities, Doak said in an e-mail that the loss could be as high as $5 million and that everyone involved had to share it.

“I know it sucks but can’t have 1 guy take the whole hit,” his e-mail said.

Roe said Doak met one of his co-accused, Leonard Ferris, “when they were in William Head Prison together.”

Doak was serving an earlier sentence for leading a massive conspiracy to transport tons of B.C. bud into the U.S.

“Mr. Ferris went to work for Mr. Doak as a trusted and supervising transporter after his release,” Roe said.

Ferris was asked by Doak’s brother to attend a court hearing for United Nations gang leader Clay Roueche when he was arrested in Texas in May 2008, Roe’s sentencing memo said.

The brother, Christopher Doak, was also charged in California with drug smuggling on the same indictment as UN gang associate Khamla Wong.

Roe said “this court is well aware of the scourge of drug trafficking across the border and the use of helicopters and fixed wing craft carrying hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana in the late 2000s, some of which continues to this day.”

“Mr. Doak is one more in a line of Canadian drug dealers who sold their wares in the United States and who used the northern border districts as their highways,” she said.

Between March 2008 and March 2009, U.S. agents seized 240,000 ecstasy pills, 175 kilograms of cocaine and 358 kilos of marijuana from Doak’s drug gang.

The seizures took place in Washington, Idaho, Utah and California, as well as in Nelson, B.C.

Doak, along with B.C. men Colin Hugh Martin, James Gregory Cameron and Adam Christian Serrano, was charged in December 2009 for his role in the smuggling operation.

Another B.C. man involved, Sam Brown, hanged himself in a Spokane jail after being arrested in February 2009 in the midst of a cross-border run.

Serrano pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in June 2013 to one count of conspiracy with intent to distribute controlled substances and was sentenced to three years in prison.

Martin and Cameron continue to fight their extradition.

kbolan@postmedia.com

Blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

Twitter.com/kbolan

I attended the scene of the latest Metro Vancouver murder this morning.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team confirmed that the victim is 29-year-old Christopher Hurtado, convicted in 2011 of aggravated assault for slitting the throat of a stranger in the Granville entertainment district.

He admitted to working in the drug trade. And some gang associates showed up at his sentencing hearing.

If you know anything, please email me at kbolan@postmedia.com or call me: 604-219-5740

Here’s my story so far:

Gang associate who worked in drug trade shot to death in Burnaby

A young man with gang links who slit a stranger’s throat during the Olympics has been shot to death in Burnaby,

Christopher Alexander Hurtado, who was also known by the surname Serrano, was killed just after 9:30 p.m. Monday in the 3900-block of Forest Street.

S.Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said residents in the quiet neighbourhood called 911 to report shots fired.

Some in the area saw Hurtado suffering from gunshot wounds and tried to do CPR, Pound said.

He was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead about 10:30 p.m.

Pound said a dark-coloured sedan that may have sustained damage fled the scene eastbound.

She said investigators are trying to find out why Hurtado, 29, was on Forest Street at the time of the shooting. He lived in Coquitlam.

“We are still again trying to determine why the individual was in this area,” she said.

There may have been an altercation with the people inside the car before the violence erupted, she said.

“We don’t have a motive at this time. It’s very early. But what we do know is that this appears to be a targeted shooting,” she said.

She said it’s lucky no one else was hurt.

“It is a brazen shooting. It is a very high-profile residential area. There are lots of individuals that are out walking and it was at 9:30 at night,” she said. “So the potential for further victims is high. We are asking the public if you have information to come forward and talk to investigators.”

Hurtado was convicted of aggravated assault for slitting the throat of banker Lee Reynolds in downtown Vancouver in February 2010. 

Reynolds, a police officer in his native South Africa, was downtown on Granville Street when he saw Hurtado yelling obscenities at two young women.

He asked Hurtado to calm down. A few words were exchanged and Hurtado walked away.

Minutes later, Hurtado returned with boxcutters, grabbed Reynolds from behind, cutting his

throat from ear to ear.

Reynolds’ friends chased Hurtado down. He was originally charged with attempted murder, but pleaded guilty to aggravated assault.

In September 2011, he was sentenced to two years on top of the 19 months he served in pre-trial custody. 

During sentencing, the judge noted that Hurtado had stabbed someone in 2002 while he collected a drug debt. She also mentioned a 2007 charge for holding a knife to his brother’s throat. But she said it was shortly after Hurtado’s dad was murdered in El Salvador and the young man was traumatized. He got a conditional discharge.

A psychiatric report entered at the sentencing said Hurtado was a high risk to reoffend violently because he was immersed in a criminal lifestyle. He admitted to working in the drug trade.

He later appealed his sentence and lost.

Appeal Court Justice Richard Low said that “the sentencing judge here considered all the aggravating and mitigating factors. Her reasons are thorough and she was well aware of the egregious circumstances of the attack of the complainant by the respondent.”

“Taken by themselves, those circumstances would dictate a substantial prison sentence. No matter what else is said about the offender, deterrence and denunciation are the most important sentencing factors in this case.”

He said the provincial court judge “was dealing with a relatively youthful offender who, although he presents considerable risk to society, became genuinely remorseful such that the judge saw some hope for his future.”

Some gang associates attended Hurtado’s sentencing hearing as his supporters.

They told the Sun at the time that they’d all grown up together in the Skeena Terrace housing complex, just over three kilometres from where he was killed.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

Readers often comment on the high number of unsolved murders – particularly when there are gang members involved either as victims or suspects. 

Homicide detectives often say these cases can take years to solve and that they never quit even when the murder is no longer front and centre in the community’s mind.

The arrests of two gangsters in the 2010 murder of Mandy Johnson this week prove that’s true.

Johnson was the unintended target of a gang hit – she was sitting in the passenger seat of a car driven by her boyfriend at the time – Gater Browne. He was uninjured. The young mom was killed.

Here’s my story about the arrests:

Charges laid against gangsters in 2010 shooting of Abbotsford woman

Two Abbotsford gangsters have been charged in the fatal 2010 shooting of a young mother and the attempted murder of her gangster boyfriend.

Gavinder Grewal, who police have issued warnings about in the past, has been charged with manslaughter for the July 2010 shooting that killed Mandy Johnson, as well as the attempt on the life of Gater Browne, her boyfriend at the time.

Also charged is Jason Gregory Himphen, 41. He faces one count of second-degree murder and one of attempted murder. 

Grewal, 29, was arrested Friday afternoon, while Himpfen was picked up Wednesday morning as he was released from the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre after serving another sentence.

Grewal appeared in Abbotsford Provincial Court Tuesday and was remanded in custody until his next appearance on June 23. Himpfen was expected to appear in court later Wednesday. 

Johnson was shot to death on July 28, 2010 as she sat in the passenger’s seat of Browne’s vehicle near Poplar Avenue and Townline Road.

Gavinder Grewal

Her mother issued a statement through the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team Wednesday.

 “Mandy was innocent and did not deserve to die. She was a loving mother, an amazing daughter, a wonderful sister and the best friend to many. She was caring, compassionate and full of life. Until they decided to take her life away,” said the statement, signed only by “Mandy’s mom.”

“This selfish act has changed my life, and the lives of those who knew and loved her, forever. Her only fault was falling in love with a guy that didn’t deserve her and trusting that her love would be enough. It was not enough and she sadly paid with her life.”

Jason Himpfen in an undated mugshot

The mother said the pain of losing her daughter would never go away.

“As I look back at the last six years I know that these charges did not come without dedication and commitment and, as my family and I move through the next chapter of this process, I want to thank all of the investigators whose hard work and perseverance will finally bring justice for Mandy.”

Browne, who was not injured in the deadly shooting, later admitted on his Facebook page that he was the intended target. And he threatened to name the killers. He also openly plotted revenge.

“Hey you goofs, why don’t you come finish what you started and do it rite this time but instead you kill my old laddy and not me now i am going to make your lifes not worth living,” Browne wrote on Oct. 6, 2010. “Or should i plaster your … names all over face book so everyone knows who murdered mandie who wants to know who did this to mandie?”

Browne later told a judge that his life spiraled out of control after the murder.

He said he had been prepared to leave gang life behind when he fell in love Johnson. But after he lost her, he started using drugs daily and carrying a loaded gun.

He was arrested in Surrey after a high-speed police chase and in 2012 was sentenced to four and a half years in jail.

Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound said the case “is another example of how difficult homicide investigations can be.”

“IHIT has remained committed to obtaining justice for Mandy Johnson despite the passage of time and we would be remiss if we did not thank the family and friends for their patience,” she said.

Himpfen has a lengthy criminal history dating back 20 years across the Lower Mainland, including convictions for assault with a weapon, possession of stolen property, theft , breaches, drug trafficking and possession of a loaded restricted firearm.

Grewal has a criminal conviction for extortion and possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. He is prohibited from possessing firearms.

Grewal, along with two associates, was the subject of an extraordinary public warning by the Abbotsford Police Department last year.

All three were believed to be involved in the “Townline Hill conflict” that has led to several shootings. One of the three, Jimi Sandhu, was deported to his native India in April.

kbolan@postmedia.com

Blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

Twitter.com/kbolan

Suspect vehicle

Homicide investigators are looking for a vehicle in connection with the June 4 murder of Richmond businessman Amarjit Sandhu.

The vehicle has been described as a gold or silver Chevrolet Trail Blazer.

Sandhu, 56, was shot to death about 6:00 p.m. in the parking lot of the Ironwood Plaza at 11320 Steveston Highway as shocked shoppers watched in disbelief.  

Earlier IHIT said the suspect was in his early to mid 20s, about six feet tall, with a slim build. He was wearing a grey hoodie or coat, with medium to dark pants and possibly a baseball cap, she said.

Sandhu was a developer who built residential and commercial buildings mostly in Richmond and Langley. 

Anyone with information about his murder is asked to call the tipline of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team at 1-877-551-4448.

Stay tuned for the Crown’s closing arguments in the trial of Hells Angels David Giles, Brian Oldham and associates James Howard, Michael Read and Shawn Womacks.

After a month-long break, the trial resumes at the Vancouver Law Courts today.

Federal prosecutor Chris Greenwood is expected to tell Justice Carol Ross why she should convict all five.

Then lawyers for the defendants will argue their position next week.

More to come….

There is no direct evidence of the involvement of an Okanagan man in a conspiracy to import cocaine that led to the arrest of two Hells Angels, his lawyer said Tuesday,

Joven Narwal began his closing submissions on behalf of Michael Read, who was charged in 2012 along with the bikers and several associates.

Narwal said that while Read was present on a couple of occasions when some of his co-accused met with undercover police officers, he was not a party to conversations about a deal to buy half a ton of cocaine from the purported South American brokers.

Those brokers were actually RCMP officers who spent months meeting with HA member David Giles, conspiracy leader Kevin Van Kalkern and others who were later charged.

Narwal opened defence submissions in the conspiracy case.

Giles’ lawyer Paul Gill was going to present first, but is now expected to begin his closing submissions next week.

Narwal said people accused in conspiracy cases face a number of disadvantages in defending themselves.

“The disadvantages in my submission are heightened in cases such as this which involve massive investigations with sophisticated investigative techniques and where the Crown has behind it the virtually unlimited resources of the state,” he told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol Ross.

“They are able to manipulate individuals, to carefully choreograph scenarios, conduct widespread and continual surveillance of individuals to elicit evidence consistent with their investigative theory.”

He also said conspiracy is a “a notoriously vague offence.”

The evidence presented by federal prosecutors should not be enough to convict Read, he said.

“There is no direct evidence of Mr. Read’s membership in the cocaine conspiracy,” he said.

Comments made in one meeting about Read collecting money related to an earlier debt over marijuana sales and had nothing to do with cocaine, the lawyer said.

And he said even though Read delivered a suitcase containing $2 million to a Vancouver hotel as a down payment for the cocaine deal, only Giles and Van Kalkeren talked to the undercover officer that day.

“On that occasion Mr. Read was left in the lobby area of the hotel while Mr. Giles and Mr. Van Kalkeren met with the undercover officers,” he said.

Lawyers for HA member Brian Oldham, associates James Howard and Shawn Womacks are also scheduled to do their closing arguments over the next two weeks.

Last week, federal prosecutor Chris Greenwood said in his closing that the evidence is overwhelming of the involvement of all five accused in the cocaine conspiracy.

 “The evidence revolves around the centerpiece of the investigation which was a lengthy and successful undercover operation,” Greenwood said.

He said meetings in Canada, Mexico and Panama, as well as phone calls, encrypted BlackBerry messages and intercepted conversations from November 2011 to August 2012 prove the guilt of each of the accused.

Over several months, an agreement was reached  to smuggle 500 kilograms of cocaine worth almost $15 million, Greenwood said.

“What’s important is the actions and declarations and the activities of the accused that precede the deal because it is those things that – when you stand back and look at them – should persuade your ladyship beyond a reasonable doubt that there was agreement that involved the importation and involved trafficking.”

He said that Giles and Kevin Van Kalkeren, who earlier pleaded guilty in the case and was sentenced to 16 years, were the leaders of the conspiracy who shored up the first shipment of cocaine during meetings in Panama City in March 2012 that were secretly recorded by police.

NOTE: I’m out of the country starting Wednesday night for two weeks. Comments on the blog will be closed (not that there have been many lately anyway!) I know I haven’t been posting much lately as have been working on a couple of features that will probably run when I’m away. 

Back from a fabulous cycling trip in Europe and re-opening the Real Scoop for your comments.  I thought I would post a couple of stories that ran while I was away about Frederic Wilson, a career trafficker just sentenced to seven years in jail. Wilson is a big player and is already facing new charges. 

Here are two stories I wrote about him:

Career drug trafficker struck deal to run cafes in Steve Nash gyms

Frederic Wilson has a history in the drug trade that dates back more than 20 years.

His latest arrest came in May when anti-gang police officers raided his White Rock rental house a block from the beach and found a clandestine drug lab inside. They also found cocaine, heroin, fentanyl and firearms.

At the time, Wilson was out on bail on earlier drug trafficking charges laid in Vancouver.

The 46-year-old B.C. man is known to police as far away as California. He was picked up with his then-wife in Sacramento in June 1999 with four kilograms of cocaine in his rental vehicle. He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years.

“We believe that he’s well-connected, and that those connections through his alleged illegal activity extend to a national level and have existed for several years,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.

Yet despite his lengthy criminal record, Wilson has opened at least two B.C. companies in recent years and struck a deal with the Steve Nash Fitness World gyms to operate juice bars inside Surrey and Langley locations.

Steve Nash spokesperson Colleen Kirk said the company had no idea of Wilson’s criminal history when he and a business partner “became vendors” in July 2014.

“Nobody was privy to that information. I will say that we have no interaction with them,” she told The Vancouver Sun.

She said the Better Body Cafés owned by Wilson and his partner are operated by employees. So the career criminal is never on site.

“They are strictly owners of Better Body Café. They are not in our clubs,” Kirk said. “Of course, we’re troubled by (the connection). But at this stage of the game, the RCMP are involved and they’re handling it. There isn’t anything else we can do at this point.”

The Sun recently visited both gyms – Surrey’s at 13821 103 Ave., and the Langley site at 19925 Willowbrook Dr. The juice bars are located near the front desk at each gym and offer patrons smoothies, wraps and other healthy snacks.

Kirk admitted that café customers wouldn’t know their money is going to a business owned by a convicted drug trafficker.

“They would be unaware if nobody’s privy to this information,” she said, stressing that the two Better Body Cafés “have nothing to do with the Steve Nash clubs.”

“They lease a space from us,” she said. “We will follow the direction of the RCMP when they complete all of their investigation. And that’s something we are not privy to yet. So we are letting the police do their job.”

Wilson, who also uses the surname Wilson-Koonpackdee, became a director of Better Body Café Inc. on Feb. 3, 2014, according to records obtained from the B.C. corporate registry.

Wilson’s other company, West Panorama Developers Inc., was incorporated on Oct. 29, 2013 – just days after he was charged in Vancouver with four counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and possession of precursor chemicals used to make methamphetamine.

He is the only director of the company, which lists its address on corporate records as Wilson’s house at 5846 134A Street.

The B.C. government now wants that house forfeited, alleging in a B.C. Supreme Court lawsuit that Wilson had no legitimate source of income when the house was bought for $768,000 in December 2011.

The Surrey house is not the only asset linked to Wilson suspected of being a proceed of crime.

The B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office also seized a total of $95,328.68 in cash taken by CFSEU investigators in 2013, executive director Phil Tawtel told The Sun.

“As a result of receiving five separate file referrals from police, the (Civil Forfeiture Office) commenced five separate administrative forfeiture proceedings, each involving large amounts of cash where Wilson was named as an interest holder,” Tawtel said in an email. “As no dispute was received in these matters, all of the cash was forfeited and the files concluded.”

Wilson was sentenced on June 30 to seven years in jail by a B.C. Provincial Court for possessing drugs and pre-cursor chemicals located in a clandestine lab in a Vancouver high rise on May 1, 2012.

Police noticed the smell of cocaine as soon as they entered the unit Wilson had leased at 821 Cambie St.

“The kitchen counter tops were dusted with cocaine powder,” Judge Frances Howard said in finding Wilson guilty.

In the kitchen, the police found a grinder contaminated with heroin and cocaine and two electrical vacuum sealers – one that had Wilson’s fingerprint on it.

There were five bottles of hair spray, which Howard noted “can be used to hold cocaine in place to be pressed.”

A 10-ton hydraulic press was in a walk-in closet. Ingredients for methamphetamine were in a plastic bowl in a storage room and a jug on top of the washing machine.

Wilson’s co-accused, Thai Nguyen, was caught nearby with a loaded revolver in his car, as well as fentanyl, cocaine, methamphetamine and heroin.

Howard heard about suspicious behavior by Wilson that went on for years.

At the Prince George Airport in October 2010, security agents found a shoebox in Wilson’s bag that was filled with cash. He grabbed it from an agent, tossed it to a companion and told the man to run.

Police later found Wilson and his friend in a local hotel room with $90,000.

“The tossing of a cash-filled shoebox to his friend and telling that person to ‘run’ is clearly an unusual and highly provocative action by Wilson from which one might reasonably infer that something criminal may be afoot,” Howard said.

A few months later in April 2011, Surrey RCMP seized a package containing cocaine at a FedEx office. Wilson’s fingerprints were on it.

In December that year, he was stopped in his Cadillac Escalade. Police found a cell phone signal jammer and $20,000.

While under surveillance in Yaletown in March 2012, Wilson did a U-turn and began to follow the officer “in an aggressive manner.”

“At one point, Wilson pulled into oncoming traffic in order to pass two vehicles that were stopped at a red light,” Howard said in her ruling.

On May 4, 2012, after police search Wilson’s Surrey house and found more evidence of his links to the drug trade, he sent text messages to one of the officers asking to meet and claiming he had “something to trade” related to “public safety.” 

Frederic Wilson with his common-in-law spouse Lani Koonpackdee.

He later spoke to the officer by phone and was told he would be charged with possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Wilson replied: “Oh, okay, I thought it would be more of a conspiracy thing.”

Wilson has had many aliases over the years.

When he was arrested in California, he was using the name Wayne Lee Nelson. Among his other aliases are: Mark Charles Boa, Duane Willon and Daniel Rueben Russell.

When he was applying to transfer from California to a Canadian prison in June 2005, he told officials he had “owned a fitness centre” prior to his arrest. The U.S. records said he had no prior criminal history until he was convicted there in 1999.

In fact, Wilson already had a Canadian record when a state trooper pulled him over for speeding in Sacramento and then called for a drug-sniffing dog.

In June 1995, he was convicted of conspiracy to traffic in narcotics and sentenced to two and half years in jail.

In June 1997, he was convicted of possessing the proceeds of crime and received a six-month sentence.

And in 1998, he was convicted of uttering threats and fined $1,000.

In March 2015, he was convicted of trafficking again and received a 12-month conditional sentence.

He was under investigation again shortly after the Cambie Street drug lab was raided.

B.C.’s anti-gang agency began its probe of Wilson for allegedly trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and human growth hormone in August 2012, according to the civil forfeiture lawsuit over the Surrey house.

In March 2013, he was seen handing over a backpack to some associates in Surrey which police later seized. It contained three kilograms of cocaine.

In April 2013, police seized cocaine, heroin, meth and other drugs as well as a pill press, vacuum sealers and other bags “at a suite associated with Pardeep Grewal” – the same woman arrested with him last month at the White Rock lab.  

White Rock house where police found drug lab

In October 2013, he was arrested leaving a Surrey automotive repair shop with a shoebox that contained “eight bundles of cash totaling $38,500.” Police then searched the shop and found 50 kilos of MDMA, as well as cocaine, other drugs, another press and a loaded pistol.

Confidential informants told police Wilson was behind the movement of large amounts of cocaine and other drugs to northern B.C and eastern Canada.

Judge Howard said police doing surveillance in the Vancouver case noted that “Wilson appeared not to be regularly employed.”

“He was never seen attending to any sort of job site on a regular basis, be it an office job or a labour job,” she said.

B.C. seeks forfeiture of house; Government alleges drug trafficker bought property to launder cash

A convicted trafficker facing new drug and firearms charges laundered his illicit profits through the purchase of a Surrey house, the B.C. government alleges in a civil suit.

B.C.’s director of civil forfeiture says career criminal Frederic Wilson is the actual owner of the house at 5846 134A Street, even though it’s registered in the name of his brother-in-law, Phoukhong Phommaviset. 

This house at 5846 134A Street. in Surrey, BC is the subject of a civil forfeiture case and is owned by drug trafficker Frederic Wilson-Koonpackdee.

“Phoukhong Phommaviset is a nominee and is holding the title to the property for the true beneficial owner, Frederic Wilson,” says the statement of claim filed in B.C. Supreme Court.

Phommaviset has filed a response to the lawsuit, stating “the property was acquired with lawful proceeds, including, but not limited to employment income, rental income, capital gains, borrowings and/or savings.”

The documents say Wilson and his wife, Latsaphone Koonpackdee, are only tenants in the house. Phommaviset “denies any involvement in criminal activity or receiving any proceeds directly or indirectly, that, to his knowledge, were proceeds of unlawful activity.”

Wilson‘s drug trafficking convictions date back to 1995.

His most recent came in April when a Vancouver judge found him guilty of possession of cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA for the purpose of trafficking, as well as two precursor chemicals used to make meth. He was sentenced to seven years in jail on June 30.

And he is still facing a series of new counts stemming from his arrest in May at a White Rock drug lab.

Wilson‘s house was purchased in December 2011 for $768,000. It’s now valued at $852,000.

The government suit lays out a convoluted series of transactions in the fall of 2011 that it says prove Wilson and Koonpackdee are the real owners. It is seeking forfeiture of all or part of the value of the house.

Large amounts of money used for the deposit and later the down payment were provided by Wilson and Koonpackdee “in an effort to launder the proceeds of unlawful

activity,” the civil forfeiture suit alleges.

Some of the money used for the down payment came from an account belonging to the mortgage broker’s brother and sister-in-law, the court documents said.

The mortgage broker himself – Bhupinder Dhaliwal – also kicked in almost $80,000 for the down payment, police determined.

Dhaliwal told The Sun he had no idea Wilson was a convicted drug trafficker until the RCMP visited him several months ago.

“The policeman told me and I was surprised. I was extremely surprised. I could not believe it,” he said. “He was very sweet to talk to and easily I could trust him.”

Dhaliwal said that before the 2011 house deal, he met Wilson and his wife, who he called Lani, once or twice through a mutual friend.

He said Wilson claimed to work in “securities” and to deal only in cash to avoid having to pay his exwife more money.

“That was the story they were giving,” he said. “He said he works with … cash so that his wife can’t take any more money away because she has taken close to $500,000, he was saying. He said he still has lots of money.”

Dhaliwal claimed he was struggling with credit card debts of more than $70,000, so asked Wilson for a loan to pay them off. He said the loan transaction was completed before Wilson and Koonpackdee came to him about the mortgage.

“They were saying they were the silent partners in this house, half and half, I think.”

But Wilson and Koonpackdee didn’t want their names on the house because of Wilson‘s “rough divorce,” Dhaliwal said.

Dhaliwal said he agreed to broker a mortgage for Phommaviset, as long as he qualified on his own.

“Just a few days before the closing, (Wilson and Koonpackdee) demanded the money back. And I said, ‘I don’t have it because you didn’t say you need the money this quick,'” Dhaliwal said.

He said Wilson told him Phommaviset had an emergency and “they had to close the deal.”

“Then he made me feel so guilty, saying … they are going to lose the house,” Dhaliwal said. “I had to take the money from all of my credit cards to the maximum limit.” He said he also borrowed money from his brother and paid all of it into Phommaviset’s accounts at Wilson‘s request.

Dhaliwal claimed he paid well beyond what he owed in order to help Wilson out because “all of their dreams were in this house.”

Wilson later came to him and repaid about $20,000 to Dhaliwal, all in cash, he said.

Asked if the transactions were appropriate business practice for a mortgage broker, Dhaliwal said, “No, it is not. I am still shocked and ashamed and embarrassed. Now I see, it really bothers me. It’s not that he made a fool out of me. I was stupid enough to be made a fool of by a criminal.”

After almost nine years, the civil forfeiture case between the Hells Angels and the B.C. government is on the final stretch to a 2017 trial date.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Barry Davies has issued many pre-trial rulings over the years based on applications from both sides. He often comments in those decisions on the length and challenges of the case that began in 2007 when the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Office seized the bikers’ Nanaimo clubhouse.

The original case has been combined with a later suit seeking forfeiture of both the East End and Kelowna clubhouses. And the Hells Angels filed a countersuit attempting to get the B.C. Civil Forfeiture Act struck as unconstitutional.

Here’s my story about the latest ruling (note the part about the documents to be turned over – that should be interesting:)

Judge freezes Hell Angels Vancouver and Kelowna clubhouses pending civil trial

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has ruled that Hells Angels clubhouses in East Vancouver and Kelowna must be preserved pending the outcome of a long-running civil suit between the bikers and the B.C. government.

Justice Barry Davies sided with the B.C. director of civil forfeiture in his ruling Friday to freeze the Hells Angels assets until the end of the trial, scheduled to start in May 2017.

Davies also ruled that the two buildings could be sold by the Hells Angels, but that the net proceeds of any sale would have to be paid to the court “to stand in place of the property.”

Davies rejected a bid by lawyers for some of the Hells Angels involved to allow the clubhouses to be sold “with the proceeds being free of any claims by the director.”

He said he didn’t want to make orders that could potentially jeopardize the upcoming trial date in the case that started almost nine years ago.

In the meantime, the bikers must maintain the condition of the East End clubhouse at 3598 East Georgia St. and the Kelowna clubhouse at 837 Ellis St.

They must also keep the taxes up to date and pay the mortgage and other bills associated to each property, Davies said.

They can continue to use both clubhouses.

A similar “interim preservation order” was made against the Nanaimo clubhouse after civil forfeiture proceedings targeting the Vancouver Island property were launched in November 2007.

The B.C. director of civil forfeiture then filed an additional lawsuit seeking forfeiture of the East End and Kelowna clubhouses in 2012.

Davies earlier combined the two cases into a single proceeding.

Initially the director said the clubhouses should be forfeited as they had been used as instruments of unlawful activity. But in amendments approved last year by Davies, the director is now claiming that the clubhouses are likely to be used in the future to engage in criminal activities.

Davies also ruled Friday that the Hells Angels involved in the case must turn over some records about the biker gang, including “minutes of international, national and regional meetings,” and “any presently operative structural charts of the (Hells Angels Motorcycle Club) in Canada and in respect of the East End and Kelowna chapters.”

“To the extent that such documentation exists, it may assist in proving or disproving the allegation that the clubhouses serve as bases of operation for the unlawful purposes pleaded by the director,” Davies said.

But he rejected the director’s application to get a more sweeping list of documents from the Hells Angels, including details of members who have retired or were tossed out of the club “dishonourably.”

“I agree with the defendants that the information sought is, at best, marginal relevance to the issues to be decided … which concern only whether the East End and the Kelowna clubhouses should be forfeited because they are likely to be used to engage in unlawful activity,” Davies said.

Read the ruling here:

Several people contacted me about the recent death of West Point Hells Angel Bjorn Sylvest, who died on a houseboat on Shuswap Lake on July 3.

The coroner is investigating. But the death is not considered to be suspicious. 

Sylvest had a major send-off in south Surrey last Thursday with a procession of 200 to 300 motorcycles, riding from the White Rock clubhouse in Langley to the funeral home.

I interviewed a senior Mountie to get general information about the state of the Hells Angels in B.C. right now. He said they continue to number about 120 – which is higher than the statistic of about 100 I was given a few years ago.

Here’s my story:

Hells Angels still a significant force in B.C. despite the recent death of a member

As B.C. Hells Angels mourn the recent death of a member of the West Point chapter, police say the biker gang remains a significant criminal force in the province.

Bjorn Sylvest died July 3 while on a houseboat on the Shuswap Lake, Barb McLintock, of the B.C. Coroners Service, confirmed.

“The death of Mr. Sylvest was reported to us and we are investigating,” she said.

Sylvest was remembered last week by his fellow Hells Angels and other pals at a service in south Surrey. 

And they paid tribute to the 35-year-old heavy-duty mechanic Thursday with a procession of 200 to 300 bikers riding from the White Rock Hells Angels clubhouse to the Victory Memorial Park Funeral Centre.

Among the mourners were bikers wearing patches of the Hells Angels, the Throttle Lockers, the Shadow Club, the Jesters, the Devil’s Army, the Castaways, the Ironworkers Motorcycle Club and the Horsemen Brotherhood. 
Bjorn Sylvest, 35, of the Metro Vancouver-based West Point Hells Angels chapter died July 3, 2016 while on a houseboat on Shuswap Lake. He is being mourned online by friends and fellow Hells Angels members. 

While Sylvest’s West Point chapter has taken a hit with his death, the Hells Angels “remain active in British Columbia and overall membership appears to have remained consistent over the last few years,” RCMP Supt. Sandro Colasacco said in an interview.

He said the current membership of the HA in B.C. is about 120 in nine chapters.

“This number does fluctuate based on factors such as police enforcement initiatives and criminal charges,” said Colasacco, intelligence officer for the RCMP’s E Division.

“Previous investigations have made it clear that some members of the Hells Angels are involved in illicit drug, weapons and violence-related offences, including murder. It is for this reason that the Hells Angels and other outlaw motorcycle gangs remain a priority for the RCMP and our law enforcement partners.”

The West Point chapter was started in 2012 by a breakaway group of bikers that had been members of the White Rock chapter.

West Point was supposed to be based in Surrey, but RCMP Asst. Commissioner Bill Fordy said at the time he would block any attempt the group made to open a clubhouse in his city.

So West Point started holding its regular “church” meetings upstairs from a Langley pub.

Photos posted on Sylvest’s online tribute page show him with other Hells Angels in Berlin, Barcelona and at Canadian gatherings. A photo of the West Point chapter posing with two Harleys shows Sylvest beside a superimposed image of fellow chapter member Larry Amero, who is in custody in Quebec awaiting a 2017 trial on charges of conspiracy to import cocaine. 

Bjorn Sylvest pictured here outside the Hells Angels clubhouse in Barcelona.

Amero isn’t the only B.C. Hells Angel currently before the courts. Kelowna full-patch bikers David Giles and Brian Oldham, as well as three associates, are also on trial in B.C. Supreme Court on a conspiracy to import cocaine charge. That case is expected to finish later this month.

And the Hells Angels in B.C. are embroiled in a legal battle with the B.C. government over the fate of three clubhouses. The B.C. director of civil forfeiture wants the East End, Kelowna and Nanaimo clubhouses forfeited, claiming they’ll be used for future criminal activity. The bikers have filed a counter-suit alleging the civil forfeiture act violates the Charter. That case is slated for trial in May 2017.

B.C. Hells Angels spokesman Ricky Ciarniello did not respond to an interview request.

Sylvest had no criminal record in B.C.

His obituary said he was an entrepreneur “who conceived, launched and successfully operated, as well as expanded curbside mobile repair.”

Friends and relatives posted comments, calling him “very kind, loving and generous” and “a great guy” who loved to snowboard and play hockey.

A Hells Angel member named Gerald, from the Paris chapter, recalled meeting Sylvest in Berlin three years ago.

“And since that we stayed in touch. He even visited Paris,” he said.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

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I remember when news broke in 2006 that a member of the White Rock Hells Angels had been charged with trying to take a gun through airport security. It was pretty surprising that anyone would attempt to do that – let alone then Sergeant at Arms  Villy Roy Lynnerup. HA spokesman Rick Ciarniello told the Sun at the time that he was “absolutely flabbergasted that this has happened.” 

Villy Roy Lynnerup in 2006

 “This is so absurd it almost sounds like a setup. I can’t believe anybody would try to do something like that.”

Lynnerup was convicted and later left the Hells Angels. Now he’s wanted again.

Here’s my story:

Former Hells Angel Villy Roy Lynnerup facing new charges

A former Hells Angel who was once convicted of trying to take a loaded gun through airport security is wanted by police again.

New charges were laid July 5 against Villy Roy Lynnerup.

The 52-year-old is facing two assault charges, one count each of uttering threats to cause death or bodily harm, dangerous operation of a motor vehicle and mischief.

All offences are alleged to have occurred June 19 in Langley.

A warrant was issued for his arrest Monday. He is described as being 5-foot-9 and 260 pounds with brown hair and blue eyes. Lynnerup was a longtime member of the White Rock chapter of the notorious biker gang.

In April 2006, he was arrested at the Vancouver International Airport after security screeners noticed a semi-automatic pistol in his black carry-on bag when it was being X-rayed.

Police were called in and he was arrested and charged with possession of an unlicensed, unregistered firearm, possession of a loaded prohibited firearm and carrying a concealed weapon.

Police also found Hells Angels documents in his bag, including minutes of chapter meetings.

Lynnerup later testified at his trial that the gun was not his and that he had no idea how it ended up in his bag. He suggested that his roommates would have had access to his bag, which he packed the night before and left by the front door. 

Villy Roy Lynnerup, a former Hells Angel, wanted by police

“However, he stated in cross-examination that he had never seen or known any of them to carry a gun. He never suggested any reason why anyone might place a fully loaded gun with one round in the chamber in his carry-on luggage,” Richmond Provincial Court Judge Patrick Chen said at the time.

“I find the evidence of the accused to be troubling. Defence counsel has argued that no one in their right mind would have brought a bag with a weapon to the airport knowing it would have to go through an X-Ray screening machine. However, there is simply no rational explanation of how or why anyone other than the accused placed the gun into the accused’s sports bag.”

Chen convicted Lynnerup on all three counts and sentenced him to 18 months in jail. He was also handed a lifetime firearms prohibition.

He was later charged in two separate incidents with break-and-enter, assault, kidnapping, unlawful confinement, uttering threats and mischief. But he was acquitted in both cases.

Lynnerup has since left the Hells Angels.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

There has been a lot of Hells Angels news this week involving both current members and past members.

I reported on the sudden death of West Point member Bjorn Sylvest and the fact that former White Rock member Villy Lynnerup was wanted by police on a number of charges.

Then Friday, the B.C. Court of Appeal ruled against a bid by Nanaimo founding member Fred Widdifield to have convictions of extortion and theft overturned. And in a weird little story, I learned that the Coquitlam clubhouse is a Pokemon Go gym!

Here are my latest stories:

Nanaimo Hells Angel loses appeal of extortion and theft convictions

Longtime Nanaimo Hells Angel Robert (Fred) Widdifield has lost an appeal of his convictions for extortion and theft.

B.C. Court of Appeal Justice Nicole Garson rejected Widdifield’s arguments that the evidence used to convict him was “wafer thin” and that he was an innocent bystander to an incident during which a former friend and business partner was extorted.  

Fred Widdifield

The longtime pal, identified only as J.H. in court, went to police in 2010 after being repeatedly threatened by another Nanaimo Hells Angel named Rajinder Sandhu.

J.H.’s problems with the bikers stemmed back to an unpaid 1993 loan for $62,000 that he had gotten from a Nanaimo woman who later moved away without providing any forwarding address.

For years, he heard nothing about the debt until Sandhu came knocking on his door in early 2010.

Sandhu told J.H. that he would have to repay the loan, as well as “a `stupid tax’ for his alleged unauthorized use of the club’s name and reputation.”

Sandhu also said that he was acting on behalf of the Hells Angel and demanded an immediate payment of $100,000. He warned J.H. about having used Widdifield’s name without authorization.

After months of meetings and text messages, J.H. was forced to turn over his yacht, which he had purchased for $137,000. 

Widdifield was with Sandhu during the sale of the boat. And Widdifield later hosted a meeting at his house during which J.H. was assaulted and ordered to pay even more money.

On appeal, Widdifield’s lawyers argued that the trial judge was speculating about the senior biker’s involvement in the conspiracy and that there was not enough evidence to support his conviction.

“In particular, Widdifield challenges the judge’s conclusion that the `sin’ for which Sandhu was sent to exact retribution was J.H.’s alleged use of Widdifield’s name,” Garson noted in her ruling, released Friday.

Widdifield’s lawyers also argued that some inadmissible hearsay evidence was improperly used to convict him.

Garson disagreed.

“It is my view that the judge reasonably inferred: (a) that, on the basis of the evidence directly admissible against him, it was probable Widdifield was a member of the common unlawful design to extort money and property from J.H. and; (b) that his membership was proven beyond a reasonable doubt. Neither of these inferences is plainly contradicted by the evidence, or incompatible with it,” Garson said.

“There was evidence to support the judge’s conclusion that Widdifield was in on the plan.”

She also said “ the verdict reached by the judge was not unreasonable.”

Appeal Court Justices Mary Saunders and David Harris agreed.

Widdifield is an original member of the Nanaimo chapter of the notorious biker gang, which started in July 1983 along with the Vancouver and White Rock chapters.

He was sentenced to five years in jail for the extortion conviction.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

Read the full ruling here:

Hells Angels clubhouse in Coquitlam a surprise Pokemon Go gym location

Pokemon Go enthusiasts wandering around Coquitlam looking for significant sites in the hit game may find themselves at a surprising location.

The Hells Angels clubhouse, at 1041 Burnette Avenue, shows up as a designated gym, meaning Pokemon Go players are expected to congregate there for battles with rival players.

Postmedia was tipped to the bizarre gym location by a Pokemon player Friday. Sure enough, a visit to Coquitlam with the Pokemon Go application opened showed the special icon for a gym right on the biker clubhouse. 

The Hells Angels clubhouse on Burnette Avenue in Coquitlam is a designated gym in Pokemon Go

The spokesman for B.C.’s anti-gang agency said Friday that it’s totally inappropriate for the popular gaming application to send people to the clubhouse of the notorious biker gang.

“We think it’s highly inappropriate that this game would include a location that attracts all ages — including children — to the location of a gang that is not only is as well known as the Hells Angels is, but includes people who are involved in the highest levels of organized crime, including violent crime,” said Staff Sgt. Lindsey Houghton, of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.

Postmedia spoke to one young player outside the clubhouse who also expressed surprise at the gym location.

“They shouldn’t be sending people there,” said the youth, who asked not to be identified.

Hells Angels spokesman Rick Ciarniello did not respond to an emailed request for comment. The Coquitlam clubhouse is the base of the Vancouver Chapter of the biker gang, which is one of the three oldest. It was founded on July 23, 1983. 

Police earlier raised concerns about the safety of players staring at screens distracted as they wander around city streets.

Earlier this week, a player jumped onto the SkyTrain tracks to catch one of the virtual monsters, setting off alarms and prompting a warning by Transit police.

And last week, Vancouver Police expressed concerns when a civilian employee discovered a virtual “Venonat” was located inside the police department’s Cambie Street headquarters.

Const. Brian Montague reminded members of the public that they couldn’t wander around the VPD building.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

Abbotsford Police are investigating a shooting that left a young man in hospital with serious injuries.

Const. Ian MacDonald said that about 2:10 a.m. Saturday Abbotsford Police “received several 911 calls reporting both about shots fired and a single vehicle crash in the area of Blue Jay Street and Cardinal Avenue.”

He said police and emergency responders arrived at the scene and found the victim inside a Cadillac Escalade with gunshot wounds.

“The man was transported to hospital where he remains and is receiving treatment for serious injuries. The vehicle he was driving collided with a power pole and went off the roadway prior to police arrival,” MacDonald said.

The roads in the area will be closed much of Saturday as forensic investigators and detectives remain on the scene.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Abbotsford Police Department at 604-859-5225 or text  222973 (abbypd) or call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

I have been working on a follow-up story today about the fatal shooting in Surrey Saturday night.

We have now been given some details about the man killed. He had no criminal history and not believed to have been involved in the on-going gang conflict that led to the shooting.

On the other hand, the driver who was wounded has a relative who is involved. It’s another indication that people not directly involved in gang and drug activity can still become victims simply because of their associations.

Here is my story so far – if you know more, please email me at kbolan@postmedia.com or call me at 604-219-5740:

Surrey man with no criminal links victim of targeted shooting

A Surrey man with no links to an on-going gang conflict has been identified as the victim of a fatal shooting Saturday.

Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound, of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team, said Jatinder “Michael” Sandhu, 28, may not have been the intended target of the killer or killers who sprayed the vehicle he was in with gunfire about 10:20 p.m. July 23.

She said the shooting, which took place in the he 14300-block of 90A Avenue, is believed to be part of an on-going gang conflict involving street-level players in the drug trade.

“IHIT and Surrey RCMP continue to work collectively on this investigation.  Investigators believe this shooting to be targeted and as a result of the current conflict between individuals and groups within Surrey,” Pound said.

“Police believe that this shooting is linked to the conflict within Surrey. However evidence and information obtained thus far suggests the victims may have not been the intended targets.”

She said neither Sandhu nor the driver have criminal records and that Sandhu was not “believed to be involved in the current conflict.”

The driver remains in hospital and is expected to make a full recovery. He has a relative who is believed to be  involved in the violent conflict.

Pound said investigators have done extensive canvassing in the area “and information from the public continues to be processed.”

“A suspect was witnessed fleeing the scene in a grey or silver Infiniti SUV (unknown year) and IHIT is asking for the public’s assistance to locate this vehicle,” Pound said in a news release.

“Police would like to remind individuals that just because you’re not directly involved in criminal activity or violence as a result of conflict, does not mean that you’re immune to the associated risks.  If you have friends or family members involved in this lifestyle, you could very well become inadvertent collateral damage to these violent disputes.”

Pound said it’s important that people know if their friends and relatives are involved in the drug trade or gangs.

“At the very least know who you’re hanging out with because it could be you,” she said.

From 2008 through 2012, police issued several extraordinary public warnings to tell people they could be at risk if they associated with several specific gang members involved in a violent conflict.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

Back in 2013, I broke the story when Glenn Sheck got charged in the U.S. with money laundering. He had already been in the news after being charged with possession of a loaded Glock in a Surrey restaurant. He was convicted on that count but also won a constitutional challenge of the three-year-mandatory minimum sentence that was law at the time.

Sheck was an associate of the late Tom Gisby, who was gunned down in Mexico in April 2012. 

Tom Gisby was gunned down in Mexico in 2012

Sheck is now fighting his extradition to the U.S. He was in B.C. Supreme Court Monday asking to be released on bail pending a hearing scheduled for next January.

The federal Crown, who is representing the U.S. government, laid out his reasons why he believes Sheck should be held in custody. His lawyer hasn’t had a chance to make his submissions yet, but will when the case resumes. 

Here’s my latest story:

A year ago, a 15-year-old East Vancouver teen was murdered at his own home. 

Vancouver police said very little at the time, except that Jason Nguyen was not known to them and that the death may have resulted from a dispute with other teens that had escalated into violence at a party before his death.

On Tuesday, VPD announced a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

Sgt. Randy Fincham have a few more details about what happened on July 26, 2015.

“Nguyen walked into his sister’s bedroom of the family’s home on East 24th Avenue near Rupert Street. He was covered in blood and collapsed on the floor. Police and paramedics were called and the teenager was rushed to hospital with serious injuries. He did not survive,” Fincham said.

He said the teen “was a good brother and son, and was not believed to be involved with crime.”

“He truly was an innocent child. The motive for the attack is still not clear and police believe he may have been targeted simply because of someone he may have known,” Fincham said. “Investigators continue to probe the circumstances involved and look for Jason’s killer.”

Nguyen was a student at Windermere Secondary at the time of his death.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Vancouver Police Department at 604-717-2500, or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

Hopefully the reward will encourage someone with information about this slaying to talk to police.

The conspiracy trial of Kelowna Hells Angels David Giles, Brian Oldham and associates James Howard, Shawn Womacks and Michael Read started in February. And on Wednesday, it wrapped up with some closing arguments made on behalf of Oldham.

Justice Carol Ross said she’ll render her verdict on Sept. 3o. 

The case is only now about conspiracy to import cocaine and possession for the purpose of trafficking. The charges of working for the benefit of a criminal organization have been stayed.

Here’s my story:

The months-long cocaine conspiracy trial of two Kelowna Hells Angels and three of their associates wrapped up Wednesday in B.C. Supreme Court.

Justice Carol Ross said she would hand down her ruling in the judge-alone case on Sept. 30.

Hells Angels David Giles and Brian Oldham and associates James Howard, Michael Read and Shawn Womacks were charged with conspiracy to import cocaine following a 2012 reverse sting by Mounties posing as members of a South American drug cartel. Three other co-accused have already pleaded guilty in the case.

Since the trial started in February, Ross has heard from undercover cops who tricked the B.C. men into believing they could provide them with hundreds of kilograms of cocaine.

Intercepted conversations and surreptitiously-recorded video evidence were also key evidence in the Crown’s case.

Defence lawyer Ian Donaldson concluded final arguments on behalf of Oldham Wednesday, saying the evidence was not enough to convict the longtime biker of conspiracy.

Federal prosecutor Chris Greenwood said in his closing that while Oldham only got involved “at the tail end of the conspiracy,” he played a key role when he attended a meeting with Giles and an undercover cop.

“He backed up the deal. In his capacity as a Hells Angel, he agreed to stand in Mr. Giles’ place for the express purpose of ensuring the cocaine could be obtained,” Greenwood said. 

Hells Angels Kelowna vice-president David Giles

But Donaldson said the conversation that took place during the meeting does not prove Oldham had knowledge of the cocaine deal.

“There are a variety of explanations that can be put upon Oldham’s presence there. They include that Giles needs somebody at that meeting to demonstrate that person is a fellow motorcycle enthusiast — he’s an Angel, shows a tattoo, that there’s somebody available if something happens to [Giles],” Donaldson said.

And he said the evidence leading up to the meeting is “vague, nebulous. It would be manifestly unsafe to draw the inference that [Oldham] knew everything, that he had to know, in order properly to be found guilty.”

Donaldson was brought into the case during closing arguments earlier this month after Oldham stood up in court and said he no longer had confidence in his original trial lawyer, Robert DeBou. 

Hells Angel Brian Oldham.

Because Donaldson had represented Kevin Van Kalkeren, who earlier pleaded guilty in the case, he was familiar with the evidence and able to step in.

In his closing, Greenwood urged Ross to convict all five, describing the evidence as “overwhelming.”

“The evidence revolves around the centrepiece of the investigation which was a lengthy and successful undercover operation,” Greenwood said.

He described Giles and Van Kalkeren as the leaders of the conspiracy who shored up the first shipment of cocaine during meetings in Panama City in March 2012 that were secretly recorded by police.

Giles’ lawyer Paul Gill earlier argued that while his client may have agreed to traffic 200 kilograms of cocaine, there is no evidence he wanted to import the drug into Canada.

And he said Giles was “played” by police at a time when he was sick and broke.

kbolan@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/kbolan

Blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

I have tried to stay on top of the issues related to violence and suicide in provincial jails over the last few years. Certainly the inmate-on-inmate violence and inmate-on-staff violence has increased with the number of gang-linked inmates in custody. But there have also been a number of suicides and fatal overdoses, like the recent death of UBC sex assault suspect David Singh Tucker.

Here’s my story:

UBC sex assault suspect dies in Surrey pre-trial jail

A man accused earlier this year of sexual assaults at the University of B.C. has died in Surrey pre-trial jail after a suspected drug overdose.

David Singh Tucker was found unresponsive in his cell in the B.C. government facility in the early hours of July 25, Barb McLintock of the B.C. Coroners’ Service confirmed Friday.

McLintock said her agency is investigating the death.

“We have not yet determined a clear cause and manner of death; investigation is still ongoing in that regard,” she said.

But sources have told the Sun that Tucker, 28, is believed to have overdosed on an unknown substance.

Contraband narcotics have been an on-going problem in both provincial and federal jails in B.C. Two years ago, a B.C. government report on safety in jails said that over a five-year period “there were 1,445 incidents involving drugs in our institutions.”

“The presence of drugs is a continuing issue that requires ongoing diligence and vigilance,” the report said.

B.C. Corrections media officer Amy Lapsley said in an email Friday that that the agency is also investigating Tucker’s death.

“Safety is B.C. Corrections’ top priority, and we are conducting a critical incident review to investigate the circumstances, relevant history, and possible contributing factors preceding this death,” she said in an emailed statement.

“We would like to extend our sincere condolences to the family and friends of this individual. Any custody-related death is a tragedy, and I can assure you that each and every one is taken extremely seriously.”

Tucker was charged on May 1 with break and enter and three counts each of sexual assault causing bodily harm, forcible confinement and robbery. He also faced one count of wearing a mask with intent to commit an indictable offence. 

He and a co-accused Yuan Zhi Gao, 23, were arrested the night before outside an apartment building in the 5700-block of Birney Avenue. Gao is charged with break and enter to commit robbery and has been released on bail.

Tucker had run-ins with police starting last summer, according to the provincial court database.

He was charged last August with dangerous operation of a motor vehicle, mischief to property and uttering threats. He pleaded guilty to those counts, as well as breaching his conditions on Oct. 30 and was sentenced to 60 days in jail. He continued to face new allegations he had breached his conditions and was due back in Vancouver Provincial Court on those Aug. 5.

Tucker is not the first inmate to die in a B.C. jail this year. In January, Matthew Kalin Brenner threw himself off the third-floor walkway at North Fraser Pretrial Centre and died.

 In February, Adam Palsson, 27, was beaten to death at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre where he was serving a 13-month sentence for stealing a car and driving dangerously.

In April, Neil Leslie died in hospital after he was beaten in a living unit at North Fraser Pretrial Centre.

kbolan@postmedia.com

Blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

There have already been so many convictions in the massive investigation into the plot to kill the Bacon brothers in 2008 and 2009. United Nations gangsters and associates Barzan Tillo-Choli, Yong Sung John Lee, Dilun Heng, Karwan Saed and Ion Kroitoru all pleaded guilty back in 2013 and were sentenced to between 11 and 14 years for their roles in the plot. A year later, Amir Eghtesad pleaded guilty in the same conspiracy and got a seven-year sentence. Alleged UN hitman Cory Vallee is facing both conspiracy and murder charges in the same plot. He’s due to go to trial in October. And Conor D’Monte, a high-ranking UN member, is charged but remains a fugitive. 

Two more Calgary gangsters were charged in January. Billy Ly and Troy Tran have both applied for bail. Ly got it. And on Friday, Tran was denied.

Here’s my story:

Judge denies bail to UN gangster charged with plotting to kill Bacons

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has denied a bail application from a United Nations gangster charged with plotting to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates.

Troy Tran, 33, and his gang-mate Billy Ly, 32, were arrested in January following a lengthy investigation by law enforcement agencies in B.C. and Alberta.

They were charged with one count of conspiring to kill the rival Bacon brothers during a bloody gang war in 2008 and 2009.

Ly was released on strict bail in April by Justice Catherine Bruce.

But on Friday, Justice Jeanne Watchuk denied Tran’s application to be released from custody pending his trial.

The reasons for her decision, which took her more than an hour to read in court, are covered by a publication ban.

Both Tran and Ly grew up in Calgary where they are alleged to have gotten involved in a gang known as the Fresh Off the Boat Killers, or FK.

The Vancouver Sun has previously revealed the FK’s close relationship with the UN gang founded in the Fraser Valley by Clay Rouche in 1997.

When Tran and Ly were arrested, the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team identified them as UN members.

Both Tran and Ly were earlier identified in B.C. court documents as non-indicted co-conspirators in the plot to murder Jamie, Jonathan and Jarrod Bacon.

Jamie Bacon is currently awaiting trial in the Surrey Six murders. Jarrod Bacon was convicted of conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and sentenced to 14 years and Jonathan Bacon, the eldest of the trio, was murdered in Kelowna in 2011.

Already several members and associates of the UN gang have been convicted for their role in the plot to kill the notorious siblings, which spanned 2008 to 2009 and led to a series of shootings, attempted murders and murders across the Lower Mainland. Killed in the dispute was Jonathan Barber, a young man who was mistaken for Jamie Bacon when he was shot to death in Burnaby. His girlfriend was wounded. Red Scorpion Kevin LeClair was killed in Langley.

Still wanted in the murder conspiracy is Conor Vincent D’Monte, who is believed to have fled Canada in 2011. And another accused, Cory Vallee, is set to go to trial in October in B.C. Supreme Court on two murder counts, as well as a conspiracy charge.

kbolan@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/kbolan

Blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

Surrey’s latest murder victim was well-known to police for his involvement in the drug trade.

Sean Christopher Kelly, 27, was shot to death July 31 about 8:20 p.m. in the 13900-block of Antrim Road.

Police were called about an injured male, but when they arrived they found Kelly fatally wounded.

The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team is now working with Surrey RCMP in the investigation.

Kelly was once close to the late Sukh Dhak, who was shot to death in November 2012. And Kelly is still associated to Jujhar Singh Khun-Khun, charged in the August 2011 murder of Jonathan Bacon in Kelowna.

Kelly had convictions for trafficking and several breaches of court-ordered conditions.

He had a loyal crew in the dial-a-dope business, who are known as the SK guys.

Surrey has had almost 50 shootings this year.

Just last week, Jatinder (Michael) Sandhu was shot to death in the 14300-block of 90A Avenue.

IHIT said he likely was not the intended target and had no criminal history nor link to the on-going gang conflict.

“Police believe that this shooting is linked to the conflict within Surrey. However, evidence and information obtained thus far suggests the victims may have not been the intended targets,” Staff Sgt. Jennifer Pound said at the time.

On July 4, the body of Brendan Aditya Chand, 27, was found in the area of Bog Park. He had been shot to death two days earlier between 10:30 p.m. and midnight.

Chand had convictions for trafficking, as well as for shooting a man in the back in Burnaby in 2011. He was sentenced to seven years for that crime in 2014. Here’s the ruling: