Crime
Red Deer RCMP arrest 4 wanted suspects; seize drugs and loaded shotgun
Red Deer, Alberta – Red Deer RCMP and members of the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT) arrested four people in a traffic stop the night of March 14, including 36 year old Quentin Lee Strawberry, who RCMP and ALERT members had been actively searching for throughout the day and evening; all four occupants of the vehicle were wanted on outstanding warrants, and police officers seized drugs and a loaded shotgun from the vehicle.
Shortly before 11 pm on March 14, members of ALERT on patrol located the suspect vehicle, a black Jeep Patriot, as it drove in north Red Deer. Red Deer RCMP and ALERT officers positioned themselves with tire deflation devices and prepared for a high-risk arrest before executing a traffic stop on Kerry Wood Drive near Bower Ponds. The Jeep drove for a short distance before stopping and the four occupants were arrested without incident.
RCMP verified that all occupants of the Jeep were wanted on outstanding warrants; during the arrests police located a loaded sawed off shotgun under the driver’s seat and seized small amounts of cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine and fentanyl from the vehicle.
“These arrests were the result of shared intelligence and coordinated efforts between Red Deer RCMP and ALERT, as we all work toward our shared goal of reducing crime in Red Deer,” says Inspector Gerald Grobmeier of the Red Deer RCMP. “We appreciate the valuable contributions of our ALERT partners in apprehending these suspects, and taking another loaded firearm off the streets.”
36 year old Quentin Lee Strawberry was wanted on outstanding warrants out of Red Deer for assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, weapons possession and failing to comply with conditions (X3).
Strawberry now faces the following additional charges:
· Criminal Code 403(1)(a) – Identity fraud
· Criminal Code 88(1) – Possession of weapon for dangerous purpose
· Criminal Code 91(1) – Unauthorized possession of firearm
· Criminal Code 92(1) – Possession of unauthorized firearm while knowing possession was unauthorized
· Criminal Code 94(1) – Possession of firearm in motor vehicle
· Criminal Code 95 – Possession of loaded prohibited firearm
· Criminal Code 117.01(1) – Weapons possession contrary to order X 2
· Criminal Code 145(5.1) – Fail to comply with undertaking
Strawberry was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on March 19 at 9:30 am.
26 year old Dustin Charles Miller Dumais was wanted on warrants out of Olds including possession of weapon for dangerous purpose, resist/ obstruct peace officer (X2), possession of stolen property, mischief, impaired operation of motor vehicle, fail to comply with demand, and failing to comply with conditions (X3).
Dumais now faces the following additional charges:
· Criminal Code 88(1) – Possession of weapon for dangerous purpose
· Criminal Code 91(1) – Unauthorized possession of firearm
· Criminal Code 92(1) – Possession of unauthorized firearm while knowing possession was unauthorized
· Criminal Code 94(1) – Possession of firearm in motor vehicle
· Criminal Code 95(1) – Possession of loaded prohibited firearm
· Criminal Code 145(3) – Fail to comply with conditions X 8
Dumais is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on March 23 at 9:30 am.
18 year old Megan Latter was wanted on warrants for possessing identity documents, failing to comply with conditions (X2) and failing to appear in court. Latter now faces two additional charges of failing to comply with court-imposed conditions – CC 145(3). Latter was remanded to appear in court in Red Deer on March 16 and is scheduled to appear again on March 20 at 9:30 am.
27 year old Shane Lee Milton Last was wanted on a warrant out of Sylvan Lake for using a forged document after an RCMP investigation into a forged cheque made out for $4,600 in early February.
Red Deer RCMP continue to investigate and will issue an update if further charges are laid.
Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser as he leaves a hearing in St. Catharines, Ont., April 5, 1994. The lawyer for the families of Paul Bernardo’s victims says the killer and serial rapist should be returned to his maximum-security prison and transparency be provided around what led to his transfer to a medium-security facility in the first place.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
By Stephanie Taylor in Ottawa
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is calling on the federal government to use whatever tools it can to reverse a decision by the Correctional Service of Canada to transfer killer Paul Bernardo to a medium-security prison.
Bernardo’s move to a facility in Quebec was made public last week after the correctional service notified the lawyer representing the families of 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy, whom Bernardo kidnapped, tortured and murdered in the early 1990s.
The killer and serial rapist had been serving a life sentence at Millhaven Institution, a maximum-security penitentiary near Kingston, Ont.
Tim Danson, a lawyer for the victims’ families, says it was unacceptable that the prison service refused to answer questions about the reason for the Bernardo’s move or details of his custody conditions, citing his privacy rights.
Speaking to reporters in Ottawa, Poilievre called Bernardo a “monster” and said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government should work to see him returned to a maximum-security prison.
In a statement last Friday, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino said Bernardo’s transfer was “shocking and incomprehensible,” adding that he planned to raise the issue with Anne Kelly, commissioner of the federal correctional service.
Danson said he was pleased to the minister’s statement
“Now we need action,” he told The Canadian Press on Sunday. “This is one of Canada’s most notorious, sadistic, psychopathic killers.”
“We need the public in masses, in millions, to be writing to the minister, to the commissioner of corrections, and to the members of Parliament, to express their outrage over this — that secrecy will not work. We want transparency.”
Mendicino said in his statement he expects the correctional service to “take a victim-centred and trauma-informed approach in these cases.”
The service, for its part, issued a statement offering no details about Bernardo’s transfer but saying safety is its “paramount consideration” in all such decisions.
“While we cannot comment on the specifics of an offender’s case under the Privacy Act, we want to assure the public that this offender continues to be incarcerated in a secure institution, with appropriate security perimeters and controls in place,” the statement read.
It went on to note that Bernardo, who has been designated a dangerous offender, is serving an “indeterminate sentence” with no end date.
Danson said the French and Mahaffy families were shocked to hear of Bernardo’s transfer, with the move bringing up decades of anguish and grief.
“Then for me to have to tell them as their lawyer and their friend, ‘I’m afraid I have no answers for you because of Bernardo’s privacy rights,'” he said.
“Of course their response is the one that you would expect: What about the rights of Kristen? What about the rights of Leslie? What about their rights?”
“These are questions I can’t answer other than just to agree with them and share in their despair.”
Bernardo’s dangerous offender status makes the move all the more puzzling, Danson added as he questioned why Bernardo should reap any benefits of being in a medium-security facility with more lenient living conditions.
“We need an open and transparent discussion and debate. These are major, major public institutions paid for by the taxpayers of Canada.”
He suggested the correctional service’s handling of the matter risks leading the public to feel suspicious of the entire system.
“They want to do everything behind closed doors and secretly.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 5, 2023.
Paul Bernardo sits in the back of a police cruiser as he leaves a hearing in St. Catharines, Ont., April 5, 1994. The federal public safety minister says reports of teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo being transferred to a medium-security prison are “shocking and incomprehensible.” THE CANADIAN PRESS/Frank Gunn
The federal public safety minister says reports of teen killer and serial rapist Paul Bernardo being transferred to a medium-security prison are “shocking and incomprehensible.”
Citing prison union officials and the lawyer for the victims’ families, multiple media outlets say Bernardo was quietly transferred earlier this week to the medium-security La Macaza Institution, about 190 kilometres northwest of Montreal.
He was initially incarcerated at the Kingston Penitentiary in Ontario and later spent about a decade at the Millhaven Institution, a maximum security prison just outside Kingston.
Bernardo has been serving a life sentence for kidnapping, torturing and killing 15-year-old Kristen French and 14-year-old Leslie Mahaffy in the early 1990s near St. Catharines, Ont.
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says he expects the Correctional Service of Canada to take a victim-centred and trauma-informed approach in such cases, and that he plans to address the decision process for the reported transfer with the agency’s commissioner.
The Canadian Press has reached out to the Correctional Service of Canada for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 2, 2023.
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