B.C. Hells Angel and associates plead guilty in drug trafficking case
Four men, including a full-patch Hells Angel from the Haney chapter, have pleaded guilty in a drug case.
Kim Bolan Vancouver Sun September 28, 2023
https://vancouversun.com/news/crime/bc-hells-angel-associates-plead-guilty-drug-trafficking-case
A full-patch Hells Angel and three associates have pleaded guilty to a series of charges after a major drug investigation by B.C.’s anti-gang agency.
Courtenay Lafreniere of the biker gang’s Haney chapter admitted in Vancouver provincial court Wednesday that he possessed proceeds of crime. He will be sentenced next month.
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In July 2021, officers with the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit found $65,570 in Lafreniere’s Maple Ridge home, according to a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed last year. Some of it was bundled with elastic bands. There was also benzocaine, cocaine and 2.4 kilograms of cannabis. Police also seized “a black leather Hells Angels’ vest,” a prohibited Taser prod, brass knuckles and a “56-pound tank of nitrous oxide.”
In December 2022, federal prosecutors laid several charges against Lafreniere and associates Jonathan Lutar, Oakley Charest, Matthew Shaw, Roman Tassone and Lukas Tassone.
The charges stemmed from an eight-month-long investigation that began in early 2020 into a group believed to be involved in a “large-scale, inter provincial, drug trafficking operation on behalf of a criminal organization,” CFSEU Sgt. Brenda Winpenny said.
In addition to Lafreniere’s guilty plea to the single count, Lutar also appeared in Vancouver provincial court Monday and pleaded guilty to drug trafficking. Earlier this year, Charest pleaded guilty to trafficking and two firearm counts. And Shaw also pleaded guilty to trafficking.
The Tassones remain before the courts on the criminal charges. They were also hit with a government lawsuit requesting the forfeiture of more than $170,000 seized during the investigation.
“This was a complex, multi-jurisdictional investigation affecting several communities,” Winpenny said. “Illegal drugs, including fentanyl, is an extremely dangerous drug that is proving to have widespread consequences in our province.”
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