OFF THE WIRE
Sibling released until Jan. 31 hearing..
The brother of a Prince George gangster ordered deported to South Africa is also linked to the Game Tight Soldiers gang and is facing a number of criminal charges, The Vancouver Sun has learned.
Dillan Meerholz pledged at an immigration hearing for his brother Francois Meerholz Thursday that he would do everything he could to ensure his older sibling obeyed a number of conditions if he was released until his Jan. 31 deportation.
But Dillan did not disclose to board member Daphne Shaw Dyck that he also has a number of outstanding charges including aggravated assault, assault causing bodily harm and several alleged breaches of court-ordered conditions.
Nor was Dillan asked any questions by the government representative opposing Francois Meerholz's release at the hearing. Dillan, 20, told Shaw Dyck that he and Francois Meerholz's fiance could put up a $5,000 bond so that Francois would be compelled to turn himself over to the Canada Border Services Agency when asked to do so.
"He is the only thing I have ever had and you just can't take that away -- it isn't fair," Dillan testified.
Shaw Dyck agreed to release Francois Meerholz on the bond and a number of conditions. He was already out on bail in Prince George when he was picked up by the CBSA earlier this month on an outstanding deportation order. The 23-year-old was expected to return to Prince George Friday where he must stay with his fiance Ashley Freake and with Dillan, who is due back in court Feb. 15 on his charges.
Francois Meerholz has been ordered out of the country for criminality and failing to report new charges and convictions to the CBSA despite an earlier agreement to do so. RCMP in Prince George say both brothers are well-known to police and connected to the GTS, which runs the street-level cocaine trade in the northern hub, in conjunction with the Renegades biker gang.
"Dillan is definitely associated to the GTS," Cpl. Craig Douglass confirmed Friday. "Francois, or Frankie, is higher up the hierarchy.
"Dillan is at the bottom. He is with these people all the time -- GTS members."
Douglass said earlier that Francois Meerholz is not only in the GTS, but wears the partial patch of the Renegades biker gang. The Renegades are considered by police to be a puppet club of the Hells Angels. When Shaw Dyck ordered Francois Meerholz's release, she said she couldn't take the word of the CBSA representative that he was a gang member without evidence being presented. CBSA's case for detention was argued by law student Marian Foucault, who did not ask Dillan or Freake any questions at the hearing when invited to do so. Foucault also did not ask for any release conditions to be imposed.
On Friday, CBSA media officer Faith St. John said the agency would not be seeking a stay of the release order or "a judicial review of the decision to release."
And she defended the agency's use of "qualified law co-op students as hearings officers."
"The student hearings officers work in a team environment with experienced hearings officers and their performance is closely monitored and direction is readily available from their supervisor," St. John said.
But at Francois Meerholz's hearing, the student was alone for most of the submissions, as well as the ruling, as the CBSA supervisor left for another hearing. St. John said there was no need for additional evidence about Francois or Dillan's criminal histories to be given to Shaw Dyck.
"The CBSA is confident that we presented all the pertinent facts in this case. The [Immigration and Refugee Board] makes the ultimate decision to release," she said.
Francois Meerholz must report to a CBSA officer in Prince George Jan. 24 and then every day until he is sent to his country of birth, which he left at the age of 12 to join relatives in B.C. Nine charges, including seven firearms counts, are expected to be stayed if he leaves Canada as scheduled.
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