LOW-RANKING HELLS ANGEL GETS SIX YEARS

Jonathan Sal Bryce Was Convicted Of Cocaine Trafficking, Extortion

VANCOUVER - Jonathan Sal Bryce, the son of John Bryce, the 56-year-old
president of Vancouver's East End chapter of the Hells Angels, was
sentenced Tuesday to six years in prison for cocaine trafficking and
extortion.

B.C. Supreme Court Associate Chief Justice Patrick Dohm said he would
have sent the 26-year-old Bryce to prison for up to 10 years had it
not been for the relatively young age of the drug dealer, his
expression of remorse in a letter to the court, and the fact that this
was his first offence.

Federal prosecutor Martha Devlin had asked the judge to send Bryce to
jail for eight years, describing him as a "professional drug
trafficker" and a low-ranking member of the Hells Angels motorcycle
gang.

The judge pointed out that after watching surveillance video Tuesday
and listening to wiretap phone calls played in court by the
prosecution, he found Bryce handled himself during drug deals "at a
comfort level that absolutely scares me."

Dohm also noted that Bryce seemed to have access to unlimited
quantities of cocaine, selling one-kilogram amounts on three
occasions, including two sales that took place inside the Hells Angels
clubhouse, and another involving two kilograms.

The judge said he hoped Bryce could restore his life after he serves
his debt to society. But if he doesn't, the judge warned, "then you
will be back here. That's a guarantee."

At the time of the offences, Bryce was an official "friend" of the
Hells Angels chapter, which is the start of membership in the outlaw
motorcycle gang. He was later promoted to "hangaround member" after
taking part in a beating of drug dealer Glen Louie on Jan. 21, 2005.

The beating took place on a dark, remote road on Burnaby Mountain near
Horizons restaurant. Provincial prosecutor Mark Levitz told the court
that Louie was beaten because he was holding himself out to be a Hells
Angels associate and was not sanctioned to use the Hells Angels name
in order to sell drugs on the North Vancouver native Indian reserve.

A tape recording of the beating, in which the victim could be heard
moaning, was played in court Tuesday. The tape was secretly recorded
by a police agent, Michael Plante, who had infiltrated the Hells
Angels and was paid $500,000, plus a promised reward of another
$500,000 after he testifies at several trials to be held this fall.

Louie was told during the beating to "get up ... get the f . . . out
of town."

Plante was present during the beating, as was Hells Angels member Jean
Joseph Violette. The men told Louie to hand over a belt with a Hells
Angels insignia that had been given to him earlier by Violette, who
goes to trial in November.

Bryce received a three-year sentence, to be served concurrent with his
drug sentence, for his role in the extortion -- Bryce phoned Louie
several times and asked him for help, with Bryce saying "I need a
hand" with "something heavy."

In a phone call played in court after the beating, Jonathan Bryce was
heard talking to his father, who asked what happened to "that
goofball." The son told his dad that things went as planned, which the
Crown suggested was a reference to the planned beating of Louie, who
refused to cooperate with police.

Another phone call, made Jan. 31, 2005, was played in court. In the
call Louie congratulated Jonathan Bryce, apparently because he had
been promoted within the Hells Angels. Louie told Bryce he suffered
internal bleeding for almost two weeks after "all that ... went down."

Defence lawyer Ken Westlake said his client grew up in North
Vancouver, where he worked at the Lynn Valley Safeway for three years,
and graduated from high school as an honours student, later taking an
electronics course at BCIT and working for a firm installing
surveillance systems.

"Full-time drug dealers do not usually have jobs," the lawyer told the
court, adding his client later bought a house and opened up a tanning
salon, which he was running when arrested.

"This is a young man who seriously regrets the pain he has caused,
particularly to his grandparents, and the stress it caused his
family," Westlake said.

The drug dealer's father was in court for the sentencing.

The judge granted the defence request to recommend that Jonathan Bryce
serve his time at Ferndale, a minimum-security prison in the Fraser
Valley, so he can continue to have visits and the support of his
family and friends.

Bryce was among 18 people, including six members of the Hells Angels
East End chapter, who were charged with a variety of offences in July
2005 after a 23-month investigation code-named Project Epandora that
culminated with raids of Hells Angels clubhouses in east Vancouver and
Kelowna.

At the time, a senior Mountie, Bob Paulson, said the East End chapter
was specifically targeted because it is the most powerful Hells Angels
chapter in B.C.