THE B.C. BORDER GUARD WHO PARTIED WITH HELLS ANGELS

Investigation Concludes Her Conduct Creates An 'Untenable Security
Risk' For The Canadian Border Services

A female B.C. border guard who partied with Hells Angels and went to
one of their clubhouses may still be working in border services, The
Vancouver Sun has learned.

The Canadian Border Services Agency concluded that the guard's
conduct created "an untenable security risk for the agency" but
refuses to disclose whether she is still on the payroll.

CBSA launched its investigation after receiving several complaints
from co-workers about the woman's conduct.

The investigation report, obtained by The Sun through the Access to
Information Act, concludes she associated with members of the gang at
least three times and that those contacts were improper "at a time
when organized crime is targeting law enforcement personnel to
infiltrate various agencies."

The report adds the woman's "behaviour and cavalier attitude
concerning her repeated association with members of the Hells Angels
creates an untenable security risk for the agency."

In refusing to disclose whether the woman is still employed, the
agency cited federal privacy laws. Those laws permit the agency to
disclose whether or not the woman is still an employee, but the
agency said it would only do so if The Sun had the woman's name. Her
name, however, had been deleted from the documents The Sun received
from the agency.

The report indicates the woman's co-workers saw her hanging out with
Hells Angels members at the Merritt Mountain Music Festival on two
separate years of the festival.

"I saw her at Coldwater River [at the festival site] with several men
wearing leather vests with the Hells Angels' patches and full
colours," one customs inspector wrote in an e-mail to his superiors.
"On another occasion, I also saw [her] in the beer garden with an
individual who was wearing a Hells Angels leather vest."

Another border guard said the woman told him she had inadvertently
attended a party held at a Hells Angels clubhouse.

"He advised her to report the incident to management and, when she
hesitated, he explained that she had placed him in a position that
obliged him to report if she did not," the report states.

The dates of the woman's alleged contacts with the Angels were
deleted from the report provided to The Sun, but the investigation
was completed within the past few years.

In her interview with investigators, the woman insisted her contacts
with the Angels were all accidental.

She said her campsite at the Merritt festival one year just happened
to be beside the Angels' campsite and that she had to cross through
it on her way to performances.

"She [said she] noticed the Hells Angels and, when possible, made
attempts to stay ... away from them," the report states.

The woman also attempted to explain her attendance at a party at an
Angels' clubhouse.

She said she had attended a high-school reunion that night and as the
nightclub was closing, someone invited her and some friends to a house party.

Because she had been drinking heavily, she said, her friends drove to
the address.

"Once there, she [says she] noticed unusual fixtures -- surveillance
cameras and a full beverage bar with bartender. On her way to the
restroom she passed a games room where she saw men in full Hells
Angels colours," the report states. "She [says she] made an excuse to
leave as soon as possible, concerned particularly that she had her
customs identification and badge wallet in her purse."

The woman insisted to investigators that her integrity had not been
compromised, saying no one from the Angels ever approached her
claiming to know who she was.

Investigators were not impressed by her explanations.

"Of serious concern is [her] association with members of the Hells
Angels on at least three reported occasions," it states. "Each one of
these ... was a social occasion which she purposely decided to attend
without any regard for the conflict of interest ... she was becoming
involved in."

CBSA investigators also looked into an incident in which a Washington
state man dropped off the woman's driver's licence at the Point
Roberts border crossing.

A co-worker put the licence aside, but another guard noticed a
whitish stain on it and tested it for drug residue -- a test that
came back positive for cocaine.

Drug residue can sometimes accumulate on bills and cards through
indirect contact.

But the report says the reading was so strong, her licence likely
came into "direct contact with cocaine, as it would if the card had
been used to cut cocaine."

The report does not conclude that the woman used drugs herself and
cites one co-worker who said she was a "binge drinker" but not a drug user.

In her interview with investigators, the woman said she was careless
with her identification -- often leaving it with bouncers and bar
staff -- and had lost it several times.

"It is unfortunate that it took this incident to make me realize that
my lost driver's licence could be used for illegal activities such as
fraud, drugs [and] impersonation," she is quoted as saying.

The report notes the woman was involved in an earlier disciplinary
matter in which she had a "friendly relationship" with a Washington
state man who was caught smuggling 227 kilograms (500 pounds) of
marijuana across the border.

The name of the woman, who worked at both the Vancouver airport and
land border crossings, was deleted from the copy of the report
released to The Sun.

CBSA spokeswoman Paula Shore refused to discuss any aspect of the
case this week, including whether the woman still works there.

The federal Privacy Act prevents the government from releasing
personal information about its staff, except whether or not they are employees.