For the first time in Nova Scotia, the RCMP have charged three outlaw motorcycle gaxxx members with committing offences for their club.
Bacchus members Patrick James, 45, and David Pearce, 38, both of Dartmouth, and Duayne Howe, 43, of Grand Desert were charged Thursday with breaking the law on behalf of their group, one of the most rapidly growing organized crime outfits in Canada.
The were also charged with extortion.
“Our role with regard to organized motorcycle gaxxx is to investigate any criminality and that’s exactly what we’ve done here,” RCMP Insp. Joanne Crampton said in an interview from Mountie headquarters in Halifax.
“We feel confident about the charges.”
While it may be the first time in Nova Scotia that charges have been laid under the commission of an offence for a criminal organization section of the Criminal Code, it isn’t the first time the section has been used in Canada, Crampton, a division intelligence officer, said.
Other provinces, including Ontario, have convicted Hells Angels members with violating the law, with the first conviction registered in 2005, she said.
The investigation here remains active, but Crampton did not anticipate any more charges in the case, which began last September after a person launched a complaint.
The inspector would not reveal anything about the complainant or the nature of the allegations. Nor would she say if the complainant is in protective custody.
“We had a complainant who came forward and we just
started the investigation at that point,” she said. “I wouldn’t be at liberty to
say (anything more).”
As a result of the complainant stepping forward, officers searched four places, including the Bacchus clubhouse in Nine Mile River and properties on Renfrew Road in that community. They also scoured residences in Dartmouth and Dyke Road in Grand Desert.
Following the searches, the three were charged in late September with intimidation and uttering threats.
The RCMP always encourages anyone with information about organized crime, outlaw gaxxx and other criminal activity to step forward, Crampton said.
Bacchus is not, as it tries to portray itself, a group of charitable “motorcycle enthusiasts,” she said.
“I would hope ... that if things like this are happening in the community that people will be willing to step up and speak up. That’s how they thrive, on threats and intimidation.”
Bacchus currently has 80 members.
“It’s actually the second largest outlaw motorcycle gaxxx in Canada, after the Hells Angels,” Crampton said. “They’re rapidly expanding.”
It grew quickly between 2010-2012, with five of the seven chapters in this region formed in the past two years, she said.
The gaxxx has a chapter in Nova Scotia, three in New Brunswick and one in Prince Edward Island and two in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Bacchus members “are on very friendly terms with the Hells Angels,” said Crampton.
The accused will remain free until their scheduled court appearance in Dartmouth on Monday.
Bacchus has been tied to several violent crimes in recent years.
In March 2010, shortly after the Hants County chapter originated, member James Russell (Rustie) Hall and his wife, Ellen Hall, were murdered in their Barr Settlement, Hants County, home. That killing has not been solved.
Last July, the president of the Saint John, N.B., chapter, Matthew Thomas Foley, 50, was charged with the second-degree murder of a man who was shot outside the gaxxx’s clubhouse. Foley later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/366212-mounties-lay-gaxxx-charges-against-bacchus-members
As a result of the complainant stepping forward, officers searched four places, including the Bacchus clubhouse in Nine Mile River and properties on Renfrew Road in that community. They also scoured residences in Dartmouth and Dyke Road in Grand Desert.
Following the searches, the three were charged in late September with intimidation and uttering threats.
The RCMP always encourages anyone with information about organized crime, outlaw gaxxx and other criminal activity to step forward, Crampton said.
Bacchus is not, as it tries to portray itself, a group of charitable “motorcycle enthusiasts,” she said.
“I would hope ... that if things like this are happening in the community that people will be willing to step up and speak up. That’s how they thrive, on threats and intimidation.”
Bacchus currently has 80 members.
“It’s actually the second largest outlaw motorcycle gaxxx in Canada, after the Hells Angels,” Crampton said. “They’re rapidly expanding.”
It grew quickly between 2010-2012, with five of the seven chapters in this region formed in the past two years, she said.
The gaxxx has a chapter in Nova Scotia, three in New Brunswick and one in Prince Edward Island and two in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Bacchus members “are on very friendly terms with the Hells Angels,” said Crampton.
The accused will remain free until their scheduled court appearance in Dartmouth on Monday.
Bacchus has been tied to several violent crimes in recent years.
In March 2010, shortly after the Hants County chapter originated, member James Russell (Rustie) Hall and his wife, Ellen Hall, were murdered in their Barr Settlement, Hants County, home. That killing has not been solved.
Last July, the president of the Saint John, N.B., chapter, Matthew Thomas Foley, 50, was charged with the second-degree murder of a man who was shot outside the gaxxx’s clubhouse. Foley later pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/366212-mounties-lay-gaxxx-charges-against-bacchus-members
