WANTED: $300,000 FERRARI LEASED BY DRUG SUSPECT

If You Know Where Daryl Desjardins Parked the Vehicle, There's A Reward

A Langley bailiff is trying to find a $300,000 Ferrari that was last
driven by the man allegedly at the centre of an international
helicopter drug smuggling ring.

And Tom Wallace, of Elite Bailiffs, is willing to pay a reward to get
back the titanium-coloured 2002 sports car that was leased by Daryl
Desjardins -- now in jail on charges of exporting and trafficking
marijuana and possession of a firearm.

Not only was Desjardins the last man behind the wheel of the
high-priced luxury car, he also leased a 2002 Infiniti QX4 valued at
$30,000 and a 2006 Chevy Avalanche worth about $50,000, Wallace said.

Total monthly payments for the three vehicles was $5,200 and
Desjardins was several months behind on the lease, Wallace said.

All of the vehicles were leased by a Chilliwack company called
Pinnacle Reef Explorations, Wallace said.

But Pinnacle's only director, Basil Lawrence Cohen, told Wallace that
Desjardins forged his name on two of the three leases, including the
one for the Ferrari.

"He says he never signed those leases. He goes Daryl signed those
leases and he signed my name," Wallace quoted Cohen as saying.

Cohen admitted he signed one of the leases, but told Wallace he no
longer knows who has the car.

Cohen did not return phone calls Friday.

Pinnacle had been the registered owner of another Bell JetRanger
helicopter which crashed in March 2005 in Abbotsford, killing a
22-year-old Chilliwack woman. Police have said the person in the
driver's seat at the time was Dustin Melvin Haugen, who is now charged
along with Desjardins in the helicopter drug smuggling operation.

Haugen has not been charged in connection with the March 2005 crash,
which remains under investigation.

Wallace said he has tried to get luxury vehicles back from Desjardins
and other alleged drug dealers before with mixed results.

"I chase a lot of drug dealers right now. They are guys that lease.
The reason they have probably gotten into leasing right now is then
they don't lose their assets to proceeds of crime laws any more,"
Wallace said.

He said he has not had good cooperation previously from Desjardins or
his friends. "We'll give a reward on any of those cars," he said.
"They are dickwads, pardon my language."

RCMP Insp. Dan Malo said Friday he was unaware of the missing leased
vehicles, which had not surfaced during the police
investigation.

"It is probably sitting in a garage somewhere. I'm sure a neighbour
saw it pulling in," Malo said.

But he said it certainly fits the pattern of Desjardins, who was found
to have made $3 million in the U.S. from illegal stock trading in a
company called Pay Pop.

Documents filed by the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission quoted
Desjardins calling the stock scam "his own 'printing press' for money,
while at the same time bartering Pay Pop stock for several exotic cars
and an ownership interest in a thoroughbred racehorse.

"For example, between 1998 and 1999, Desjardins purchased: A house
located at 28725 Zero Ave., Abbotsford, a BMW worth approximately
$70,000, a Hummer worth about $130,000, a Ferrari worth about
$250,000, four Ski-Doos worth about $40,000 plus the installation of a
motor in a Ski-Doo for $35,000, a Yukon Denali worth about $65,000, a
Porsche worth $120,000, Nissan Pathfinder worth $20,000, Acura worth
$30,000, two Corvettes worth $80,000, Camaro worth $20,000, Dodge 4x4
worth $40,000, Ford F350 worth $68,000, speed ski boat worth $50,000,
three Harley-Davidsons worth total of $134,000, home stereo equipment
worth $100,000 and a diamond worth $22,000," the SEC document stated.

Desjardins' May 9 arrest was part of a massive, U.S.-Canada multi-law
enforcement agency operation that saw 46 people on both sides of the
border charged in a two-year investigation.

Malo said while only Desjardins and Haugen are charged so far, the
case is continuing.

"We are still following up on some more evidence to bring before the
Department of Justice," he said.

Desjardins had been running the popular beachfront Breakwater
Restaurant near Harrison Hot Springs, keeping his Jet BellRanger in a
tin shed next door.

Accountant Greg Buck said he arranged for Desjardins to buy the
restaurant in March 2005 and kept doing the books for the now accused
drug trafficker, but was never paid.

"We agreed when he took over the restaurant that we would continue to
pay the bills for him and paying the staff. We weren't his accountant.
We were his bookkeeper really," Buck said Friday. "I know he paid the
bills legitimately from money that went through the business
legitimately."

But Buck said Desjardins stiffed him as well.

"That's why I left. Let's just say I wasn't getting pay. I don't keep
clients who don't pay," he said.