Red Deer RCMP arrest offenders wanted on multiple warrants

Red Deer, Alberta – Red Deer RCMP made a number of arrests while conducting proactive patrols in downtown Red Deer, and more thanks to continued reports from the public of suspicious activity or suspicious vehicles. Many of those arrested were wanted on multiple outstanding warrants and were found to be breaching court-imposed conditions at the time of their arrests.

May 29 – 2018154162

The afternoon of May 29, Red Deer RCMP located a woman who was wanted on outstanding warrants and took her into custody. 35 year old Samantha Gibb was wanted for failing to comply with conditions and possession of stolen property after she was arrested in a stolen vehicle on February 2; she now faces an additional charge of failing to appear in court. Gibb is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on June 11 at 9:30 am.

May 29 – 2018739800

At 5:30 pm on May 29, RCMP responded to a report of a suspicious vehicle in a north Red Deer parking lot, and located a stolen truck; the male driver was arrested without incident.

54 year old Adam Reginald Spare faces the following charges:

Criminal Code 355(a) – Possession of stolen property over $5,000
Criminal Code 733.1(1) – Fail to comply with probation

Spare was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on May 31 and is scheduled to appear again on June 7 at 9:30 am.

May 28 – 2018733217

Shortly before 3:30 pm on May 28, RCMP responded to a report of a stolen wallet at a downtown business. The victim and a staff person followed the female suspect and RCMP located them nearby. RCMP arrested the suspect and retrieved the wallet.

A 25 year old woman faces the following charges:

Criminal Code 334(b) – Theft under $5,000
Criminal Code 175(1) – Disturbing the peace

Her name cannot be released at this time as the charges have not been sworn before the courts; she is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on June 6 at 9:30 am.

May 28 – 2018732190

Shortly after 12:30 pm on May 28, RCMP responded to a report of suspicious activity in a green space in the Kentwood neighbourhood and located a suspect who was wanted on six outstanding warrants out of Edmonton. During his arrest, RCMP seized two prohibited weapons: brass knuckles and a knife.

35 year old Cooper John Harrison faces the following charges in addition to his warrants:

Criminal Code 91(2) – Possession of prohibited weapon X 2
Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions
CDSA 4(1) – Possession of Schedule I substance

Harrison was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on May 30 and is scheduled to appear again on June 7 at 9:30 am.

May 26 – 2018723530

At 9 pm on May 26, RCMP responded to a report of an attempted carjacking where the victim was detaining a suspect who had allegedly attempted to steal their truck. The victim sustained minor injuries while restraining the suspect, who then gave police a false name during his arrest. Police seized what is believed to be methamphetamine during the arrest.

26 year old Jeremy Strawberry faces the following charges:

Criminal Code 344(1)(b) – Robbery using violence
Criminal Code 129(a) – Resist/ obstruct peace officer
Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions X 2
CDSA 4(1) – Possession of Schedule I substance

Strawberry was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on May 28 and is scheduled to appear again on June 5 at 9:30 am.

May 26 – 2018498780/ 2018575321

On May 26, Red Deer RCMP located and arrested 21 year old Shae-Lee Lynn Phillips, who was wanted on 13 warrants out of Wetaskiwin for robbery with a firearm, aggravated assault, assault with a weapon, weapons and firearms offences (X 7), stolen property, breach of probation and failing to appear in court. Phillips was further wanted on three warrants out of Red Deer for breach of probation (X 2) and failing to comply with conditions. Phillips was remanded to appear in court on May 29 and is scheduled to appear again on June 7 at 9:30 am.

May 26 – 2018722077

Shortly before 4:30 pm on May 26, RCMP responded to a report of suspicious activity behind a downtown church; on arrival, police located a suspect who was wanted on two warrants for breaching his probation. 28 year old Wyatt Kirk Brooks was arrested without incident and was scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on May 29; Brooks did not appear in court on that date and is now wanted on warrants.

May 26 – 2018720612

Shortly after 11 am on May 26, RCMP were called to a residence in Highland Green after a report of unknown persons inside a parked motorhome. RCMP attended and arrested a man and a woman without incident, seizing several stolen identity documents during the arrest.

31 year old Justin Eric Arnault faces the following charges:

Criminal Code 430(1)(c) – Mischief under $5,000
Criminal Code 355(b) – Possession of stolen property under $5,000
Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions

Arnault was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on May 28 and is scheduled to appear again on June 5 at 9:30 am.

31 year old Veronica Beaverbones faces the following charge:

Criminal Code 430(1)(c) – Mischief under $5,000

Beaverbones is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on August 17 at 8:30 am.

May 25 – 2018712628/ 2018711663

At 3 am on May 25, RCMP on patrol in downtown Red Deer approached a group of people sitting at a property with visible drug paraphernalia around them. One suspect was taken into custody after giving police a false name and attempting to flee police on foot; he was arrested after struggling with police officers and was found to be in possession of what is believed to be methamphetamine and other items consistent with drug trafficking. At the time of his arrest, RCMP were looking for the suspect regarding an incident the night before, in which he is alleged to have threatened a person known to him with a knife, and assaulted that person.

27 year old Jesse James Leckner faces the following charges regarding the incidents of May 24 and May 25:

Criminal Code 270(1)(a) – Assault on peace officer (May 25)
Criminal Code 129(a) – Resist peace officer X 2 (May 25)
Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions X 4 (May 25)
CDSA 5(1) – Possession for the purpose of trafficking (May 25)
Criminal Code 264.1(1) – Uttering threats (May 24)
Criminal Code 267(a) – Assault with a weapon (May 24)
Criminal Code 88(1) – Possession of weapon for dangerous purpose (May 24)

Jesse Leckner was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on May 29 and is scheduled to appear again on June 13 at 9:30 am.

May 24 – 2018708715/ 2018321203

Shortly before noon on May 24, Red Deer RCMP were conducting targeted crime reduction work when they located a stolen SUV containing two suspects. RCMP tracked the vehicle at a distance until it came to a stop and it was safe to make an arrest. Both occupants of the vehicle were wanted on a number of outstanding warrants and were taken into custody without incident.

28 year old Samantha Johnstone was wanted on 17 outstanding warrants out of Red Deer at the time of her arrest, for possession of a prohibited firearm (X 2), possession of prohibited weapon, possession of break-in instruments, possession of stolen property, possession of controlled substance (X 3), possess identity documents, fail to comply with conditions or an undertaking (X 7) and fail to attend court. One of the charges for failing to comply was sworn after Red Deer RCMP conducted a curfew check and determined that she was in violation of those court-imposed conditions. Red Deer RCMP regularly conduct conditions checks on individuals known to have court-imposed conditions as part of the Red Deer Pinpoint crime reduction strategy.

In addition to her 17 warrants, Samantha Johnstone faces the following charges:

Criminal Code 355(a) – Possession of stolen property over $5,000
Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions

38 year old Byron Theron Peters was wanted on an outstanding warrant for breach of probation. He now faces the following additional charges:

Criminal Code 355(a) – Possession of stolen property over $5,000
Criminal Code 129(a) – Resist/ obstruct peace officer
CDSA 4(1) – Possession of Schedule I substance (fentanyl)

Johnstone and Peters made their first appearances in court in Red Deer on May 28; both were scheduled to appear again on June 1.

May 23 – 2018706151

The night of May 23, RCMP on foot patrol in downtown Red Deer located a suspect they knew to be wanted on outstanding warrants for possession of stolen property (X 2), failing to comply with conditions and failing to attend court. RCMP arrested him without incident and determined he was also wanted on two warrants out of Edmonton.

30 year old Jeremy Sanderson-Hayward was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on May 24 and is remanded until his next court appearance on June 8 at 9:30 am.

May 23 – 2018705855

At 8:30 pm on May 23, Red Deer RCMP responded to a report of suspicious activity in the Kentwood neighbourhood and located a woman driving a Lincoln Aviator SUV that had been reported stolen out of Red Deer the same morning. RCMP executed a traffic stop and arrested the driver without incident.

A 23 year old woman faces the following charges:

Criminal Code 355(a) – Possession of stolen property over $5,000
TSA 51(a) – Operate motor vehicle without license
TSA 52(1)(a) – Operate motor vehicle without registration
TSA 54(1)(a) – Operate motor vehicle without insurance

She is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on July 3 at 9:30 am; her name cannot be released at this time as those charges have not been sworn before the courts.

May 23 – 2018704320

The afternoon of May 23, RCMP on patrol in downtown Red Deer located a suspect who was wanted on five outstanding warrants for possessing break-in instruments, fail to comply with probation (X 2), fail to comply with conditions and fail to appear in court. At the time of his arrest, the suspect was in possession of methamphetamine.

In addition to his warrants, 47 year old Joel David Bremner now faces a charge of CDSA 4(1) – Possession of Schedule I substance. Bremner was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on May 24 and is scheduled to appear again on June 6 at 9:30 am.

Lloyd Lewis

www.todayville.com

President Todayville Inc., Honorary Colonel 41 Signal Regiment, Board Member Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Arts Award Foundation, Director Canadian Forces Liaison Council (Alberta) musician, photographer, former VP/GM CTV Edmonton.

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Addictions

Liberals shut down motion to disclose pharma payments for Trudeau’s ‘safe supply’ drug program

Published on May 21, 2024

Todayville

Liberal MP Majid Jowhari

From LifeSiteNews

By Clare Marie Merkowsky

The motion comes as RCMP testified in April that Trudeau’s taxpayer funded ‘safer supply’ drugs are being diverted to the black market.

Liberal Members of Parliament (MPs) resisted a motion to disclose payments made to pharmaceutical companies for “safe supply” opioids.

During a May 15 session in the House of Commons, Liberal MPs blocked a vote on a motion by Conservative MP Garnett Genuis to publish the contacts between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government and pharmaceutical companies for “safe supply” opioids.

“Allow the public to see the contracts,” Genuis told the Commons government operations committee, questioning, “What do you have to be afraid of?”

“There are contracts involving this government and big pharmaceutical companies involved in producing and selling dangerous hard drugs which then end up on our streets,” he argued.

“Big pharmaceutical companies are involved in supplying hard drugs that are used as part of the government’s so-called ‘safe supply’ program,” Genuis continued. “These programs are a failure. We oppose them. In any event, we believe the public has a right to see the contracts.”

However, a committee vote on his motion was quickly blocked by Liberal MPs.

“I don’t think this is a motion we should move forward with,” Liberal MP Majid Jowhari said.

“I think we should go back and look at it and say our objective is to get an understanding of the source of safe supply and how it is being procured, which is different than going and saying, ‘Give us all the contracts,’” he continued.

Similarly, Liberal MP Irek Kusmierczyk claimed the request was a political tactic, saying, “They are against safe supply and safe consumption sites. That is clearly spelled out by my Conservative colleagues.”

“Organized crime groups are trafficking not only illicit substances but any prescription drugs they can get their hands on,” Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald, commander of the RCMP in British Columbia, testified.

Genuis put forward a motion asking that the committee “order the production of all contracts, agreements or memoranda of understanding to which the Government of Canada is a party signed since January 1, 2016” concerning the purchase of opioids.

Liberals’ refusal to release the contracts comes as the Trudeau government recently rejected a proposal from the Alberta government to add a “unique chemical identifier” to drugs offered to users under “safe-supply” programs so that authorities could track its street sales.

Indeed, the Trudeau government seems determined to pretend their “safe-supply” programs are a success despite the rising deaths and crime in cities that have adopted their policy.

However, the program proved such a disaster in British Columbia that the province recently requested Trudeau recriminalize drugs in public spaces. Nearly two weeks later, the Trudeau government announced it would “immediately” end the province’s drug program.

Beginning in early 2023, Trudeau’s federal policy, in effect, decriminalized hard drugs on a trial-run basis in British Columbia.

Under the policy, the federal government began allowing people within the province to possess up to 2.5 grams of hard drugs without criminal penalty, but selling drugs remained a crime.

Since being implemented, the province’s drug policy has been widely criticized, especially after it was found that the province broke three different drug-related overdose records in the first month the new law was in effect.

The effects of decriminalizing hard drugs in various parts of Canada has been exposed in Aaron Gunn’s recent documentary, Canada is Dying, and in U.K. Telegraph journalist Steven Edginton’s mini-documentary, Canada’s Woke Nightmare: A Warning to the West.

Gunn says he documents the “general societal chaos and explosion of drug use in every major Canadian city.”

“Overdose deaths are up 1,000 percent in the last 10 years,” he said in his film, adding that “(e)very day in Vancouver four people are randomly attacked.”

Crime

The US Canadian border: Greatest number of terrorist watch list individuals being apprehended at northern border

Published on May 20, 2024

Todayville

A Border Patrol agent standing watch at the Montana-Canada border in the CBP Spokane Sector. The Spokane Sector covers the U.S.-Canada border along the northwestern section of Montana, part of Idaho, and the eastern part of Washington.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection

From The Center Square

By Bethany Blankley

Lack of operational control at northern border poses national security threats

The northern border largely has been unmanned and understaffed for decades as federal reports issue conflicting conclusions about how much, or how little, operational control exists.

Some officials have suggested the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has just 1% operational control over the northern border after a 2019 General Accounting Office audit of U.S. Customs and Border northern border operations. But a December 2022 DHS report claimed, “The Border Patrol is better staffed today than at any time in its 87-year history,” noting no surveillance of extensive parts of the northern border existed prior to 9/11.

After 9/11, several federal agencies were combined to fall under the newly created Department of Homeland Security. Within 20 years, roughly 950 miles along the U.S.-Canada border from Washington to Minnesota, and roughly 200 miles along the northern border in New York and Lake Ontario, were under unmanned aircraft surveillance. None of these areas “were covered prior to the creation of DHS,” DHS says, meaning the northern border was largely unprotected since Border Patrol’s founding in 1924.

In 2012, DHS released its first unified department strategy for U.S.-Canada border security, prioritizing “deterring and preventing terrorism and smuggling, trafficking, and illegal immigration; safeguarding and encouraging the efficient flow of lawful trade, travel, and immigration; and, ensuring community resiliency before, during, and after terrorist attacks and other disasters.”

Within 10 years at the northern border, more than 2,200 Border Patrol agents were stationed between ports of entry; nearly 3,700 CBP officers were stationed at ports of entry; more than 35 land ports of entry were modernized; and thermal camera systems, mobile and remote video surveillance systems had been deployed.

Havre Sector Border Patrol agent patrolling northern border on an ATV. The Havre Sector covers the U.S.-Canada border along most of Montana’s northern border, and includes part of Idaho and all of Wyoming, Colorado and Utah.

*U.S. Customs and Border Protection*

Despite these improvements, “the northern border is under-resourced by far compared to the southwest border,” former Border Patrol chief Mark Morgan told The Center Square. “But at the same time, it still represents significant threats. Cartels are expanding their operations, flying people into Canada, which doesn’t require a visa, presenting an opportunity for terrorist watch-listed individuals to exploit. It’s much easier to get to Canada to come across.”

“Data from 39 months shows terrorist watch-listed individuals are coming here every day and they aren’t stopping,” Morgan added.

For years and prior to the current border crisis, there weren’t enough personnel to cover all shifts, and the infrastructure, technology and equipment afforded to them didn’t compare to those at the southwest border, he said. People can easily drive snow mobiles over frozen territory or boats across the Great Lakes in areas that are unmanned, Morgan said, with a previous policy of self-reporting to authorities.

“The northern border represents a threat,” Morgan said. Noting it only took 19 men to carry out the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Morgan has warned that a terrorist threat is already in the U.S. No one knows how many terrorist watch-listed individuals have illegally entered who weren’t caught, multiple officials have told The Center Square.

While much attention has focused on the southwest border, the greatest number of known or suspected terrorists to ever be apprehended in U.S. history were at the northern border in fiscal 2023, breaking fiscal 2022’s record, The Center Square first reported.

This fiscal year through April, the greatest number of KSTs (known or suspected terrorists) continue to be apprehended at the northern border, 143 so far, according to CBP data.

Potential terrorist threats are not new and have persisted for some time, federal reports indicate. One Border Patrol intelligence report says terrorist threats potentially come from “foreign violent extremists to exploit established alien smuggling routes and networks for the purpose of evading detection en route to the United States.”

Other threats include drug smuggling from Canada into the U.S., connected to “criminal groups with known ties to or hired by Mexican drug trafficking organizations” and human smuggling. In the last few years, human smuggling attempts and apprehensions have significantly increased, The Center Square has reported.

The Center Square first began reporting on northern border national security threats several years ago. Since then, apprehensions of illegal border crossers in the first six months of fiscal 2024 were the highest on record. In the busiest sector of Swanton, Border Patrol agents recently apprehended more people in one week than they did in all of fiscal 2021.

Last month, they apprehended more than 1,400 illegal border crossers, more than they did in fiscal years 2021 and 2022 combined, Swanton Sector Chief Border Patrol Agent Robert Garcia just announced, saying it was “another record-breaking milestone in northern border history.”

This is after they apprehended more than 6,700 in fiscal 2023, more than the apprehensions of the previous 11 years combined, The Center Square first reported.

The U.S.-Canada border is the longest international border in the world of 5,525 miles. Unlike the U.S.-Mexico border, there are no border walls or similar barriers along the U.S.-Canada border. Through DHS, CBP officers are tasked with border security at ports of entry and Border Patrol agents between ports of entry along 4,000 miles. The U.S. Coast Guard, working with CBP’s Air and Maritime Operations, covers maritime security.