22571 replies to this topic

[lanforod]

Yikes. Looney tunes

[Matt R.]

What does it say about me that I couldn’t NOT read it all. Ugh.

[Matt R.]

“A shouting match between the two sides.”

Two sides? There’s two sides?!

[pontcanna]

"The gun went off’

The security guard whose truck was stolen, who asked not to be named, says she was called to attend the crash scene until police arrived.

“Upon arrival to the scene, I found out that the driver of the vehicle had fled and took off into the bush here in the Nation. So I drove to see if I could find what direction he went to inform the police,” the Scia’new security supervisor told CHEK News

She says she found the man trying to enter a home.

“I confronted him and asked him if he was the driver of the vehicle that just was in an accident, and he said to me that he was not and that he had been dropped off by a friend. Once I saw that the members did not want to allow him into their home, I directed him that he needed to leave the community,” the security supervisor said.

After the man left, the security supervisor returned to check on the woman, who told her she had been held hostage against her will. She then went back to see if she could find the man.

She found him trying to break into another resident’s home, and there was an altercation that he fled from.

“He demanded my vehicle. At first I was like, ‘I’m not giving you my truck,’ was like, get bent in not so polite terms, and then that’s when he pulled out the gun,” she said.

“He hit me with the butt of the gun two times in the face and punched me once and while I was trying to fight him off and get my seatbelt off to vacate the vehicle the gun went off, and I heard glass smash on the passenger side of my vehicle.”

She says she got out of the vehicle, covered in blood. Her son, who was with her, helped her out and called 911.

She was brought to the hospital, where she got some stitches and a CT scan. She says she has a fracture on her face and she will have to see a plastic surgeon.

“I’m feeling like I was in the wrong place at the wrong time, but also feeling like had I not been there something worse could have happened to the female passenger from the first accident,” she said.

“So I’m grateful that I was able to intervene there but upset that I received the injuries that I did.”

 

More: https://www.cheknews...ctions-1196231/

 

Been waiting months for some kind of update on these crazy events in East Sooke. Charges finally sworn and accused (w/lengthy history) appeared today in Port Alberni (by video).

 

[pontcanna]

Ongoing conflict led to neighbour shooting, court hears

Paul Tregear is on trial for aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent to wound, maim, or disfigure, possessing a firearm without a licence and pointing a firearm at a person

A longtime conflict between neighbours led a Sooke man to shoot his neighbour in the stomach with a rifle, a B.C. Supreme Court jury heard Monday.

As a trial began for Paul Tregear, Crown prosecutor Sofia Green advanced the Crown’s theory that Tregear was standing with a rifle outside the home of his neighbour, Anthony Nelson, on May 7, 2022, and shot him when Nelson came outside to retrieve something from his camping trailer.

Tregear is facing charges of aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent to wound, maim or disfigure, possessing a firearm without a licence and pointing a firearm at a person.

When he went to his camping trailer, he was surprised to see Tregear and asked what he was doing, Green said. Tregear walked toward Nelson and shot him, she said.

Nelson wrestled the rifle away from Tregear, who then fled, Green said.

Nelson waited for police to arrive and was taken to hospital, where he was treated for a gunshot wound, while officers arrested Tregear in a nearby neighbourhood, she told the jury.

The two couples had been neighbours for years, but over time the relationship had become “unfriendly” due to conflicts between them, Green said.

Const. David Devine of Sooke RCMP took the stand Monday to describe the “chaotic” scene he arrived to, finding Nelson doubled over on his front stoop screaming that he had been shot.

The (police) dog tracked a scent from Nelson’s home down an embankment and through thick brambles to ­Tregear’s home next door, where officers with the emergency response team were setting up.

The trial continues today.

 

More: https://www.timescol...t-hears-9757943

[pontcanna]

 

Oct. 30, Melissa (born 1975) got 3 years and $343k restitution (due in a month) for Fraud Over. An award winning paralegal, apparently. Surprised this didn't hit the papers.

 

Victoria woman sentenced to prison for embezzling $340K from employer

Nov. 5, 2024 

A Victoria woman who admitted to skimming more than $340,000 from her employer has been sentenced to three years in prison.

Melissa Cielen, a 49-year-old paralegal and office manager, pleaded guilty to embezzling the money from her lawyer boss over the course of four years, from 2018 to 2022.

Judge Ted Gouge says Cielen had worked in the same law office since 2010, where her duties included paying the company's bills.

Cielen was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2018 and began to abuse alcohol and cocaine thereafter, according to the judge's decision.

To support those habits, Cielen made payments to herself, disguising them as routine office expenses for things like court fees and furniture, according to the decision. Those fraudulent payments totalled $343,077.28 before she was caught.

A forensic psychiatrist who assessed Cielen for a presentencing report found no evidence that she suffers from a major mental illness or mood disorder. 

Cielen, who has no prior criminal history, according to the judge, was at a low risk to reoffend, the psychiatrist wrote.

The judge wrote that deterrence was of utmost importance in Cielen's case, noting that her "substance abuse issues remain unresolved, and she has not availed herself of the counselling services offered to her."

"Embezzlement is a crime which requires forethought and planning. In many cases, as in this one, it is carried out over a period of years."

 

More:https://bc.ctvnews.c...loyer-1.7099162

[pontcanna]

Oak Bay mom and daughter speaking out after alleged date rape drugging

November 4, 2024 

Georgia and her mom are pictured

A Vancouver Island mother is speaking out after her daughter was allegedly drugged at a party in Oak Bay.

After a traumatic visit to the hospital and seeing more parents sharing similar stories online, she and her daughter have decided to speak up to warn others.

Georgia, 16, couldn’t understand why she woke up in a hospital after having two drinks at a party. She was walking to a pizza shop in Oak Bay when she didn’t feel well and asked her friend to call her dad.

“I started feeling weird and off like something was wrong,” recalled Georgia.

She was admitted to Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, where she was unconscious for five hours.

Georgia’s mom, Jodie Laframboise, says doctors determined her daughter’s symptoms didn’t line up with the limited amount of alcohol in her body.

Laframboise says the blood tests are still being analyzed, but she is certain that her daughter had GHB (gamma hydroxybutyrate) slipped into her drink.

Laframboise and Georgia have heard from other teens and parents sharing similar stories, all within the Oak Bay area.

“We are investigating an active report of an Individual who was allegedly drugged at a gathering in Oak Bay,” said Saanich Police Sgt. Damian Kowalewich.

"Our detective division is working on it right now to determine what happened.”

More: https://cheknews.ca/...ugging-1222526/

[pontcanna]

Wanted: John Charlie

Sidney North Saanich, Wanted Warrant

2024-11-06

File # 2024-698

Sidney/North Saanich RCMP is asking the public for help in locating 47-year-old John Charlie who has warrants for his arrest. He is wanted for:

Assault with a weapon;
Breach of Release Order.

He is described as:

 

Indigenous male;
5’9 tall;
190 lbs;
Grey hair;
Brown eyes.

Anyone with information on the whereabouts of John Charlie is asked to call their local police.

Released by:

Cpl. Alex Bérubé
District Advisory NCO (Media Relations)
Island District

[Victoria Watcher]

California residents voted to pass Proposition 36, a tough-on-crime ballot initiative that will enact harsher penalties for retail theft, property crimes and drug offenses.

 

It will undo parts of a landmark 2014 law that downgraded several non-violent felonies to misdemeanors as a way to reduce the state’s prison population and redirect money to drug treatment and resources for crime victims. While some considered the original law, known as Proposition 47, a breakthrough in criminal justice reform, others viewed it as a major driver of property crime, homelessness and substance abuse.

 

Proposition 36 – which was backed by many law enforcement and business groups, conservative lawmakers and some Democratic mayors, including San Francisco’s London Breed and San Jose’s Matt Mahan – promises to address two of the state’s most visible issues, homelessness and fentanyl dependence, by sentencing dealers to longer prison sentences and creating a court-mandated drug treatment system for people struggling with addiction.

 

 

https://www.theguard...prop-36-results

 

 

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 07 November 2024 - 08:56 AM.

[lanforod]

We need a Prop 36 here. Trudeau and Eby are just giving some basic lip service on it, they won't implement real change.

[pontcanna]

Driver gets 6 years in prison for killing 7-year-old son while driving impaired in Sooke

November 7, 2024 

A Vancouver Island man has been sentenced to six years in prison for causing a crash that killed his seven-year-old son while he was driving under the influence of drugs.

The crash occurred in the Sooke area around 2 a.m. on Sept. 7, 2021 when Matthew Gilbert Darlington, now 49, was driving his family home after getting off the ferry from Vancouver.

The court heard that Darlington had ingested meth around 7 p.m. on Sept. 6, and smoked cannabis after arriving on the Island around 11 p.m.

He was behind the wheel when the family’s sedan jumped a curb and crashed into a tree off Sooke Road.

His spouse and three children were in the car at the time. All were injured, and their seven-year-old son died in hospital hours later.

Darlington has a long history of driving offences, and was prohibited from driving when the crash occurred in September 2021.

Between 2011 and 2022, he was convicted of driving while prohibited nine times, including on April 19, 2022, eight months after the fatal crash.

(Judge) Gouge added that Darlington had repeatedly breached his bail and probation orders a total of seven times between 2013 and 2018. He believed that the sentencing recommended by both counsels was too lenient.

“Mr. Darlington poses a serious threat to public safety. His disobedience of past driving prohibitions demonstrates that he will probably continue to drive, no matter what order I make,”.
 

MCFD said Darlington was making “positive steps” towards repairing his relationship with his two surviving children

“I do not believe that any contribution which he can make to his children’s upbringing could outweigh the need to protect the public, including his children, from the risk which he will pose to public safety if he is not in custody,” Gouge said.

Gouge said Crown’s request for a 15-year driving ban was “manifestly insufficient,”. Darlington was handed a 35-year driving ban.

 

More: https://cheknews.ca/...-sooke-1222944/

[Mike K.]

Such a tragic accident.

 

Darlington has a long history of driving offences, and was prohibited from driving when the crash occurred in September 2021.

 

Between 2011 and 2022, he was convicted of driving while prohibited nine times, including on April 19, 2022, eight months after the fatal crash.

 

A human life, the life of his own son, no less, was taken by his actions, and he was handed a sentence of only six years.

 

It is difficult to fathom.

 

[pontcanna]

Masseur facing 10 counts of sexual assault suggests all women are lying

November 7, 2024 

The 38-year-old man facing 10 counts of sexual assault involving 10 separate women while working as a masseur in Victoria, testified at his trial on Thursday.

At trial, Ajesh Jacob suggested that all 10 women were lying.

“I’m going to suggest it’s your evidence that’s not true,” retorted Crown prosecutor Lorne Phipps.

One by one Crown prosecutors summarized the allegations of the 10 complainants in the case to Jacob. Over and over he told the courtroom “I haven’t done it.”

The women allege a range of sexual touching while receiving a massage at Big Feet on Fort Street spanning a two year time frame, ranging from their breasts being groped or their vaginas.

On Nov. 6, Jacob testified that some of the complainants gave him their contact information. He said he became friends on Facebook with some of them.

In cross examination, Jacob denied ever being attracted to any of his roughly 1,500 female clients over his career.

“It’s a self-serving statement…that’s impossible and makes him not credible,” said Crown lawyer Lorne Phipps.

Previously, Jacob’s lawyer, Jordan Watts, indicated his defence will be that, because the allegations initially popped up on social media, the women swapped stories. Watts has alluded to arguing the women colluded or even fabricated their stories.

Trial continues Nov. 12, with the judge aiming to have a decision Nov. 14.

More: https://cheknews.ca/...-lying-1222998/

[Matt R.]

My gosh. Causing the death of your own seven year old.

That is such a sweet age for parents as well. Getting into the school routine and all that entails, getting to know them as a person rather than a toddler or infant, they are just starting to show you who they are and you are starting to see their potential.

Devastating.

[pontcanna]

Nanaimo Hells Angel jailed 6 years for drug trafficking

Nov 8, 2024 

NANAIMO — A lengthy investigation centered on identifying and dismantling highly organized Vancouver Island drug trafficking was aided by an informant and undercover police operation.

William Karl Paulsen, 53, was jailed for six years in a federal penitentiary on Thursday Nov. 7 at B.C. Supreme Court in Nanaimo after he pleaded guilty to 15 drug trafficking and possession charges.

 

William Karl Paulsen, left, Sean Oliver Douglas Kendall and Kristopher Steven Smith 

 

Paulsen’s May 2020 arrest at his Campbell River home followed an arduous, multi-partner investigation in which police believed the Hells Angels Motorcycle Club intended to expand its presence on Vancouver Island.

Paulsen, who had a limited and dated criminal record, was confirmed by police to be trafficking cocaine of between roughly two ounces and a kilogram over the course of several months beginning in Sept. 2019.

A former motorcycle gang member in Manitoba agreed to wear a recording wire and work with the RCMP as a confidential agent, while an undercover police officer worked in conjunction with the informant to advance the file.

Informant-captured recordings at Paulsen’s property on Highland Rd. in Campbell River demonstrated his direct involvement in ongoing drug trafficking.

Justice Robin Baird looked Paulsen directly in the eyes while addressing him.

“I gather from the excerpts of intercepted recordings that I’ve just heard that you’ve been in this racket for quite a while Mr. Paulsen. I suspect you’ve known all along that something like this could happen and maybe you thought you’d be one of the lucky ones who never got caught. I hope this makes an impression on you, for what it’s worth, because the likelihood is it’s only going up from here.”

The recordings also detailed Paulsen declare his stature as a known, reliable, high-quality drug supplier.

Paulsen shared his long-term vision for his drug trafficking activities with the informant, including how he hoped to broaden his client base and make it more resilient.

The informant was introduced to Paulsen via former Nanaimo Hells Angel and co-accused Kristopher Stephen Smith, who was booted from the motorcycle club during the police investigation, the agreed statement of facts heard.

“Investigators conducted intermittent surveillance on Paulsen and saw him in Campbell River meeting with a person who was a courier delivering cocaine to Paulsen from his suppliers on the Lower Mainland of B.C.,”

The following month Investigators followed a courier truck from the Tsawwassen ferry terminal to Duke Point on May 24 and and then tracked the delivery truck northward to Campbell River.

As multiple police investigators watched every move, the courier stopped at a Campbell River gas station, where Paulsen parked his Honda Civic directly beside it.

Paulsen exchanged shopping bags with the driver.

En-route back toward Nanaimo the courier truck was pulled over.

Inside the truck a hidden compartment was found and a bag opened where over $84,000 bundled in two packages was found, along with a $1,000 payment for the delivery driver.

A separate unit of police officers followed Paulsen to his home, boxed him in and arrested him.

In the vehicle, police retrieved 980 grams of cocaine (87-89 per cent purity) located in a bag.

A search warrant for the home was promptly obtained, uncovering roughly $100,000 cash in the primary bedroom.

A Hells Angels vest was also recovered in the workshop, as was a book titled “Cocaine Handbook: An Essential Reference.”

Crown: “He wasn’t acting on behalf of anybody else, he wasn’t, for example a courier or a hired hand. He committed these offences to further his own business enterprise.”

Defense said Paulsen had a strong academic and prior work history, but said he acquired a significant disability while working as a mining blaster at a Campbell River area operation and formed severe arthritis and is in chronic pain.

Paulsen faces a separate Civil Forfeiture Act application as the province attempts to obtain the Paulsen family home.

He was led off to jail and gave a wink to his common-law wife and his mother and son.

Co-accused Kristopher Stephen Smith of Nanaimo and William Bradley Thompson of Ladysmith are scheduled to stand trial in B.C. Supreme Court early next year in Victoria.

Sean Oliver Douglas Kendall of Port Alberni received a three-year jail sentence in October 2023.

 

More: https://nanaimonewsn...ug-trafficking/

[Mike K.]

A search warrant for the home was promptly obtained, uncovering roughly $100,000 cash in the primary bedroom.

A Hells Angels vest was also recovered in the workshop, as was a book titled “Cocaine Handbook: An Essential Reference.”

!

[pontcanna]

Police warn of recent sexual extortion attempts in Victoria

November 8, 2024 

Victoria Police are warning the public of a recent slew of sexual extortion attempts targeting people in the city through email.

VicPD released one of the emails that was sent to a would-be victim who reported it to police.

An excerpt from the email, which uses incorrect punctuation and grammar, reads “let me get straight to my point, a few months ago i gained access to your internet router and from there i spread across all the devices over the network. during this period i have managed to collect your internet history, and captured webcam footage (with audio) of you playing with yourself while watching high controversial genre adult movies.”

The scammer then demands $2,000 USD worth of Bitcoins.

“It’s unlikely that you’d want your family, colleagues, or contact list to watch the v ideos (sic) you’re enjoying. Especially if it’s your fa v orite genre.(we both know which one I’m talking about.)” the email continues.

VicPD notes that the poor grammar is a sign that the email is a scam.

“It can be alarming to receive a message like this, but remember that these claims are fake,” “Remain calm, be vigilant and report suspicious activity.” 

 

 

More: https://cheknews.ca/...ctoria-1223009/

[pontcanna]

!

[Matt R.]

David Lee…. Roth?

[pontcanna]

Son of Sooke shooting victim gives evidence

• Times Colonist
• 9 Nov 2024

The son of a Sooke man who was shot in the stomach outside his home testified Friday about an unfriendly relationship with their next-door neighbours.

 

Gabriel Nelson took the stand in the trial of his family’s neighbour, Paul Tregear, who faces charges of aggravated assault, discharging a firearm with intent to wound, maim or disfigure, possessing a firearm without a licence and pointing a firearm at a person.

 

Gabriel Nelson, who was 17 at the time of the shooting, told the jury about an incident two months before the shooting in which Tregear’s partner yelled at him for hosting a bonfire.

 

She told him he couldn’t have the fire he was planning because it was on their property, he said.

 

The fire chief, a long-time family friend, arrived within about 20 minutes of the altercation, he said.

 

The fire chief told them to move the planned fire closer to their own home, so he didn’t receive any more calls asking him to return, Gabriel Nelson said.

 

The trial continues Tuesday.

 

More: https://digitaltimes...281539411478023