Police received a call from concerned family members that M.R. was going to commit suicide or otherwise harm himself and that he was in possession of several firearms. The police attended at his residence and endeavored to gain consensual access without any luck. The ultimately deployed tear gas and conducted a forced entry, locating M.R. and several firearms (which were all lawfully owned and stored). The Crown brought an application to have all the firearms forfeited. It argued that it …
R. v. K.R. [Alberta Provincial Court, Calgary, April 2018]
Police received a report of “road rage” complaining of a driver who waived a handgun and threatened another motorist. Police obtained a description of the driver and the vehicle and located a vehicle matching the same description. Police cornered the vehicle and drew their firearms, demanding that the driver exit his vehicle. The driver rolled up his windows and did not exit the vehicle for several minutes. Once he exited he was arrested and the vehicle was searched. Police discovered …
R. v. M.E. [Alberta Provincial Court, Didsbury, February 2018]
M.E. was pulled over driving a vehicle on the highway outside of Didsbury as a consequence of a burnt out tail light. The police ran his information through a computer database and discovered that there was a warrant out for his arrest. They arrested him. As no one (the driver nor the passenger, a 16 year old girl) could produce insurance or registration for the vehicle, it was towed. The police conducted an inventory search of the vehicle prior to …
Mount Royal University Hearing [February 2018]
B.M. was charged with a number of serious offences arising from allegations that he had broken into a Mount Royal Professor’s home (a woman in her 60s) and beat her so severely that both her hands were broken. He was charged with a number of offences including two counts of s. 348(1)(b), break and enter with intent to commit an indictable offence. B.M. was a student at Mount Royal in his last semester of study. B.M. received notification from the …
R. v. S.P. [Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta & Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary, January 2018]
The police received information from a confidential informant that S.P. was transporting large amounts of high quality marijuana from British Columbia to Alberta and Saskatchewan. Police investigated the tip by locating S.P. and putting a tracking device on a rental vehicle she had been known to use. Police also conducted a “garbage pull” where they found evidence of marijuana in her discarded trash. Weeks into the investigation police tracked S.P.’s rental vehicle from Calgary to interior BC. After a brief …
R. v. M.J. [Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, Calgary, December 2017]
The police initiated an investigation as a result of information received by the police from a confidential source that M.J. was dealing cocaine. After several weeks of surveillance the police believed they had observed multiple drug transactions involving two people, M.J. and a second person, O.M.. Police ultimately executed search warrants at the residence of both M.J. and O.M.. In the residence thought to be M.J.’s the police found two handguns with ammunition and a significant amount of cocaine (crack …
R. v. P.J. [Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, Calgary, December 2017]
P.J. was charged in Chestemere with a number of charges relating to the alleged discharge of a firearm at a house party. Witnesses claimed that P.J. had been showing off a handgun and then had left the house following an altercation. Witnesses then claimed that P.J. then returned and discharged his firearm at a group outside the house multiple times. Bullets were found lodged in vehicles and homes in the residential neighborhood. P.J. was apprehended by police and charged with …
R. v. S.K. [Alberta Provincial Court, Lethbridge, December 2017]
The police alleged that S.K. was crossing the border from the USA to Canada in a transport truck containing drugs. S.K. told Canada Border Service Agents (CBSA) that he was transporting fruit from California to Costco in Alberta. CBSA searched the truck and located 17 kilograms (over 37 pounds) of what they believed to be cocaine. S.K. was arrested and charged with importation of cocaine and possession of cocaine, both of which carry up to a life sentence. S.K. retained …
R. v. A.I. [Alberta Provincial Court, Calgary, November 2017]
I.A. was under police surveillance after they received confidential source information that he was selling fentanyl and cocaine. Police observed I.A. engage in what they believed to be two “hand-to-hand” drug transactions and then followed him as he drove away from the scene. Police observed I.A. speeding down Deerfoot trail and periodically opening his car door to vomit. The police conducted a traffic stop of the vehicle and ultimately formed the grounds to arrest I.A. and search the vehicle. In …
R. v. A.J. [Alberta Provincial Court, Calgary, October 2017]
Police received information that A.J. was trafficking in cocaine. On the basis of that information they began investigating A.J. and conducting extensive surveillance on him. They were able to identify his residence using police records, and observed the individual they believed to be A.J. entering and exiting the house on several occasions. They also observed him in meets of short duration including several “hand to hand transactions”. The police ultimately sought a search warrant for the residence. When the police …
R. v. S.A. [Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench, Calgary, September 2017]
911 dispatchers received a call from a woman screaming that her son and husband had been stabbed to death. Police, EMS and Calgary Fire arrived to confront a nightmarish scene. Three men were found with multiple stab wounds in the basement of a residential home, one partially disembowelled. Two of the men were deceased, one (the accused) was alive but suffered significant injuries. Witnesses told the police that the accused was the aggressor and he was arrested and charged with …
R. v. A.S. [Alberta Provincial Court, Calgary, September 2017]
A.S. faced a multitude of charges and was out on bail on several matters. In June, 2017 he was arrested following a lengthy undercover investigation. Police alleged that A.S. had sold cocaine to a police officer on 6 different occasions. The police obtained a search warrant and seized a loaded firearm, 91 grams of cocaine and 58 fentanyl tabs from a residence associated to A.S. When A.S. was arrested he was allegedly holding a bag containing 65.4 grams of crack …
1. Regina v. V.D.W.N. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Red Deer – January 2018]
V.D.W.N. was the driver and sole occupant of his truck in downtown Sylvan Lake, Alberta. An astute uniformed member of the RCMP drove past V.D.W.N. and noticed that the truck had an inoperative headlamp and that V.D.W.N. wasn’t wearing a seat belt. The Mountie pulled a U-turn, pursued and stopped V.D.W.N. According to the Mountie, as he approached the rear of V.D.W.N.’s truck he could smell a strong odour of fresh marihuana. As the Mountie approached the open driver’s window …
2. Regina v. L.R.K. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Lethbridge – January 2018]
L.R.K.’s only “crime” was to have a significant other who was the target of a sophisticated drug investigation that extended over several months. Not once during the course of the police investigation was L.R.K. ever found to be engaged in remotely suspicious let alone unlawful activity. Information gleaned by way of a multitude of confidential informants and protracted police surveillance led inexorably to only one conclusion – L.R.K. was NOT involved in illegal activity. On the da y of the …
3. Regina v. E.M.M. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Canmore – January 2018]
E.M.M. is a young professional from abroad with tentative legal status in Canada. Following an evening of alcohol fueled festivity, E.M.M. endeavored to walk home in moving traffic with several equally inebriated friends – they didn’t fare well. The police approached E.M.M. and ultimately arrested him for causing a disturbance and escorted him to the RCMP detachment. During the course of processing at the lock-up, the police seized a quantity of cocaine from E.M.M. As a consequence of the seizure, …
4. Regina v. R.U.N. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary – February 2018]
The police were in the midst of an ongoing drug investigation when R.U.N. surfaced during surveillance as a potential target. One investigative thing ultimately led to another resulting in the execution of a Warrant to Search on R.U.N.’s residence and a corresponding search of his BMW. As a consequence of a search of R.U.N.’s bedroom the police seized a relatively large amount of cocaine and an assault rifle. A search of the BMW revealed the presence of multiple individually wrapped …
5. Regina v. B.A.G. [Court of Queen’ s Bench of Alberta, Calgary – March 2018]
This is another RCMP “Pipeline” case. At approximately 2:00 a.m. B.A.G. was driving his vehicle back to Calgary from B.C. on Highway #1. B.A.G. was pulled over by an RCMP highway patrolman just east of the entrance way to Banff National Park. The reason given by the Mountie for the stop was . . . “speeding”. Well one thing led to another at roadside and ultimately the Mountie decided to arrest B.A.G. for possession of a controlled substance. The Mountie’s …
6. Regina v. G.J.M. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary – March 2018]
The Calgary Police Service (“CPS”) Drug Unit received information from a reliable confidential source that G.J.M. and a multitude of others were actively involved in a “Dial-a-Dope” cocaine trafficking enterprise. Fixed with this information, the police deployed an undercover team to arrange a meeting with G.J.M. to facilitate a cocaine transaction. The efforts of the police in this regard were successful and an undercover officer purchased street level quantities of cocaine from G.J.M. on at least 3 separate occasions over …
7. Regina v. N.S.N. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary – June 2018]
In the Spring of 2016 the CPS Gang Enforcement Team (“GET”) targeted N.S.N. as a potential drug trafficker. After conducting protracted surveillance of N.S.N. the police came to associate him and his alleged drug trafficking activity with a condominium in Airdrie. As part of the investigation the police installed a covert camera in the hallway just outside N.S.N.’s condominium – the police did not obtain judicial authorization to install the covert hallway camera. The state of the law across this …
8. Regina v. K.S.R. [Provincial Court of Alberta, Calgary – July 2018]
K.S.R. was the target of a “dynamic take-down” by the Calgary Police Service (“CPS”). Specifically, the police stopped K.S.R.’s Range Rover and ordered K.S.R. at gunpoint to exit the vehicle. According to the police, they had information which led them to believe that K.S.R. may be armed and dangerous. After a brief stand-off, K.S.R. exited the vehicle whereupon he was immediately apprehended, taken-down and arrested. According to the police they detected the strong scent of fresh marihuana emanating from the …