Charges against B.C. gang suspects dropped
Three of four caught in Kam Lake raid now free, after police found drugs, cash and guns in home
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, March 28 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Three B.C. gang suspects are in the clear after Crown prosecutors dropped drug trafficking charges filed against them following an RCMP raid on a Kam Lake home last October.
RCMP seized more than $10,000 in cash, 653 grams of marijuana, 350 grams of cocaine and nearly $2,000 in diamonds from a Kam Lake home in October. Fourteen firearms, including restricted handguns, were found in the home as well. Trafficking charges against three of the four arrested in the raid have been withdrawn. - NNSL file photo |
Documents filed along with a search warrant for the home - unsealed to the public Jan. 13 - makes little mention of the three suspects from B.C.
Arrested in the same raid is Yellowknife resident Steven Mark Ormrod, 29, who is still charged with trafficking marijuana, cocaine, possessing property obtained by crime and 29 other weapons charges. Those charges have yet to be proven in court.
The last charges against the B.C. suspects were dropped on Tuesday, when the Crown withdrew marijuana and cocaine trafficking charges against Christopher James Davies, 30, of Langley, B.C.
Similar charges were withdrawn against Irene Maria Lahay, 51, on Feb. 25, followed by trafficking charges against Kody Gold, 22, that were dropped on March 7.
Lahay and Gold are also from Langley.
RCMP chronicle investigation
Court documents released in January outline the RCMP's investigation leading up to the raid on the Kam Lake home.
RCMP say they were tipped off about gang and drug activity in Yellowknife in the summer of 2012.
Using at least 10 paid, confidential informants, police began making their case. Their suspects were the "B.C. Boys" gang based
out of lower mainland B.C., who RCMP believed were selling hard drugs in Yellowknife.
They received one tip saying the B.C. Boys were "crazy kids" who would kill for the Hells Angels.
By last summer, RCMP learned the gang, who they now refer to as the "856" gang (the name is based on the phone prefix used in Aldergrove and Langley B.C.), were selling drugs out of multiple apartments and houses in the city.
At one point, a Northern Properties manager came
forward to the RCMP with 339 grams of crack-cocaine they'd found in a vacated apartment.
One informant told police the gang was "taking over business" in Yellowknife with cheaper prices.
By mid-summer investigators believed they'd identified the leader of the gang in Yellowknife and estimated he had 14 to 16 people working for him.
Investigators began surveilling the house on Kam Lake in August. They believed large quantities of drugs and firearms were being stored there.
The RCMP investigation of the house was almost blown in its early stages, when the alleged gang leader spotted a camouflaged officer spying on him from an adjacent residence.
In his report, the officer said the suspect was throwing a ball for his dog outside when he looked up and pointed at him. The suspect then hopped on his ATV and chased down the officer.
The officer fled, noting his surveillance was "compromised."
RCMP noted there is a "continual turnover" of drug runners in the city from B.C. which decreases their chances of arrest.
Police raided the Kam Lake house on Oct. 2, seizing more than $10,000 in cash, 653 grams of marijuana, 350 grams of cocaine and nearly $2,000 in diamonds. Fourteen firearms, including restricted handguns, were found in the home as well. Lahay, Davies, Gold and Ormrod were arrested at the scene.
A little more than two months later, RCMP raided more Yellowknife residences. On Dec. 6 they seized $32,000 in cash, 226 grams of marijuana and 85 grams of crack-cocaine.
Nine people, some of whom police say had connections to the Kam Lake home, face various drug, firearms and stolen property charges. Those charges have yet to be proven in court.
