Crime
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.
Crime
CBSA Bust Uncovers Mexican Cartel Network in Montreal High-Rise, Moving Hundreds Across Canada-U.S. Border
A court document cited by La Presse in prior reporting on the case.
The conviction targets Edgar Gonzalez de Paz, 37, a Mexican national identified in court evidence as a key organizer in a Montreal-based smuggling network that La Presse documented in March through numerous legal filings.
According to the Canada Border Services Agency, Gonzalez de Paz’s guilty plea acknowledges that he arranged a clandestine crossing for seven migrants on January 27–28, 2024, in exchange for money. He had earlier been arrested and charged with avoiding examination and returning to Canada without authorization.
Breaking the story in March, La Presse reported: “A Mexican criminal organization has established itself in Montreal, where it is making a fortune by illegally smuggling hundreds of migrants across the Canada-U.S. border. Thanks to the seizure of two accounting ledgers, Canadian authorities have gained unprecedented access to the group’s secrets, which they hope to dismantle in the coming months.”
La Presse said the Mexico-based organization ran crossings in both directions — Quebec to the United States and vice versa — through roughly ten collaborators, some family-linked, charging $5,000 to $6,000 per trip and generating at least $1 million in seven months.
The notebooks seized by CBSA listed clients, guarantors, recruiters in Mexico, and accomplices on the U.S. side. In one April 20, 2024 interception near the border, police stopped a vehicle registered to Gonzalez de Paz and, according to evidence cited by La Presse, identified him as one of the “main organizers,” operating without legal status from a René-Lévesque Boulevard condo that served as headquarters.
Seizures included cellphones, a black notebook, and cocaine. A roommate’s second notebook helped authorities tally about 200 migrants and more than $1 million in receipts.
“This type of criminal organization is ruthless and often threatens customers if they do not pay, or places them in a vulnerable situation,” a CBSA report filed as evidence stated, according to La Presse.
The Montreal-based organization first appeared on the radar in a rural community of about 400 inhabitants in the southern Montérégie region bordering New York State, La Presse reported, citing court documents.
On the U.S. side of the line, in the Swanton Sector (Vermont and adjoining northern New York and New Hampshire), authorities reported an exceptional surge in 2022–2023 — driven largely by Mexican nationals rerouting via Canada — foreshadowing the Mexican-cartel smuggling described in the CBSA case.
Gonzalez de Paz had entered Canada illegally in 2023, according to La Presse. When officers arrested him, CBSA agents seized 30 grams of cocaine, two cellphones, and a black notebook filled with handwritten notes. In his apartment, they found clothing by Balenciaga, a luxury brand whose T-shirts retail for roughly $1,000 each.
Investigators have linked this case to another incident at the same address involving a man named Mario Alberto Perez Gutierrez, a resident of the same condo as early as 2023.
Perez Gutierrez was accompanied by several men known to Canadian authorities for cocaine trafficking, receiving stolen goods, armed robbery, or loitering in the woods near the American border, according to a Montreal Police Service (SPVM) report filed as evidence.
The CBSA argued before the immigration tribunal that Gonzalez de Paz belonged to a group active in human and drug trafficking — “activities usually orchestrated by Mexican cartels.”
As The Bureau has previously reported, Justin Trudeau’s Liberal Cabinet was warned in 2016 that lifting visa requirements for Mexican visitors would “facilitate travel to Canada by Mexicans with criminal records,” potentially including “drug smugglers, human smugglers, recruiters, money launderers and foot soldiers.”
CBSA “serious-crime” flags tied to Mexican nationals rose sharply after the December 2016 visa change. Former CBSA officer Luc Sabourin, in a sworn affidavit cited by The Bureau, alleged that hundreds of cartel-linked operatives entered Canada following the visa lift.
The closure of Roxham Road in 2023 altered migrant flows and increased reliance on organized smugglers — a shift reflected in the ledger-mapped Montreal network and a spike in U.S. northern-border encounters.
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Crime
Public Execution of Anti-Cartel Mayor in Michoacán Prompts U.S. Offer to Intervene Against Cartels
“I don’t want to be just another mayor on the list of those executed”
On the first night of November, during Day of the Dead celebrations, the independent, anti-cartel mayor of Uruapan in Michoacán, Carlos Manzo, was assassinated in the heart of his city during a public festival. His bloody murder has underscored the deadly risks faced by local officials who may lack adequate protection from a state that critics say is corroded by corruption and penetrated by powerful cartel networks that, in some regions, have supplanted government authority. The killing intensifies urgent questions about political and police corruption, cartel impunity, and the scope of U.S.–Mexico security cooperation — with a response from the U.S. State Department today offering to “deepen security cooperation with Mexico.”
Manzo, a fiercely outspoken anti-cartel mayor who took office in 2024 as Uruapan’s first independent leader, was gunned down as he stood before crowds at the annual Day of the Dead candlelight celebration. Witnesses said gunfire erupted shortly after Manzo appeared onstage, holding his young son moments before the attack. The festival, known locally as the Festival de las Velas, drew hundreds of families to Uruapan’s central plaza — now transformed into the scene of Mexico’s latest high-profile political assassination, and a catalyst for nationwide outrage, as online protests surged and citizens called for demonstrations against cartel violence.
According to early reports, at least two suspects have been detained and one attacker was killed on site. Authorities asserted — despite the success of the attack — that Manzo had been under National Guard protection since December 2024, with additional reinforcements added in May 2025 following credible threats to his life.
In Washington today, the killing drew political reaction. “My thoughts are with the family and friends of Carlos Manzo, mayor of Uruapan, Michoacán, Mexico, who was assassinated at a public Day of the Dead celebration last night. The United States stands ready to deepen security cooperation with Mexico to wipe out organized crime on both sides of the border,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau, the former U.S. ambassador to Mexico, said in a statement shared online.
Federal Security Minister Omar García Harfuch said the gunmen “took advantage of the vulnerability of a public event” to carry out the attack, despite a standing security perimeter.
President Claudia Sheinbaum condemned the killing as a “vile” assault on democracy and vowed there would be “zero impunity.” Her administration convened an emergency security meeting and pledged that the investigation would reach the “intellectual authors” of the crime. Yet the murder has already ignited outrage across Mexico over the government’s failure to protect local officials in cartel-dominated states such as Michoacán, where extortion, assassinations, and territorial disputes continue to erode basic governance.
Manzo had publicly warned of his fate. “I don’t want to be just another mayor on the list of those executed,” he said earlier this year, as he pressed the federal government for better coordination between municipal and military authorities. For years, Uruapan — an agricultural and trade hub in western Mexico — has been the site of deadly clashes between the Jalisco New Generation Cartel and remnants of the Knights Templar Organization, both vying to control lucrative extortion and drug routes.
The killing of Manzo fits a dark and familiar pattern. In 2025 alone, several mayors in Michoacán, Guerrero, and Tamaulipas have been killed in attacks widely attributed to organized-crime groups. In June, the mayors of Tepalcatepec and Tacámbaro were ambushed and slain while traveling in official convoys. More than 90 local officials have been murdered since 2018 — a rate that analysts say reflects how cartels target municipal governments to ensure political control over territories tied to narcotics, mining, and agriculture. Uruapan, at the heart of Mexico’s avocado belt, is a strategic prize for the cartels that tax every shipment leaving the region.
The mayor’s death also recalls earlier tragedies that scarred the nation. In 2012, Dr. María Santos Gorrostieta Salazar, the former mayor of Tiquicheo, was abducted and murdered after surviving two assassination attempts and defying cartel threats. Her death became emblematic of the dangers faced by reformers who refuse to cooperate with criminal groups. More than a decade later, Manzo’s murder illustrates that little has changed — except the brazenness of the attackers, now willing to strike in front of cameras and families celebrating one of Mexico’s most sacred holidays.
The killing has also reignited long-standing U.S. frustration over Mexico’s inability to stem cartel violence, even as the Trump administration has expanded counter-narcotics operations at the border. Under Trump’s renewed directives, the U.S. has classified several Mexican cartels as foreign terrorist organizations and empowered the Pentagon to develop strike options against high-value targets abroad. A September 2025 joint statement between Washington and Mexico City pledged deeper intelligence sharing and cross-border enforcement initiatives, including efforts to halt arms trafficking southward.
However, Mexico’s government remains deeply wary of any U.S. military involvement on its soil. President Sheinbaum has warned that “Mexico will not stand for an invasion in the name of counter-cartel operations,” rebuffing Republican calls for unilateral action. Her position lays bare a long-standing tension between Mexico’s need for U.S. support and its insistence on sovereignty — a fault line that Manzo’s killing has reignited.
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