HELLS ANGELS FACE DRUG CHARGES

Bikers From Nanaimo, Ontario Accused Of Cocaine Trafficking

After years of investigation, police on Vancouver Island have laid
drug trafficking charges against Hells Angels from Nanaimo and Ontario.

It is notoriously difficult for prosecutors in B.C. to press charges
against Hells Angels and, over the last decade, more than 60 per cent
of those laid have ended in either acquittals or charges stayed by
Crown.

A full member of the Nanaimo Hells Angels and an associate of the
Nanaimo motorcycle club were in B.C. Supreme Court Friday charged with
trafficking cocaine and conspiracy to traffic cocaine.

At the same time, a full patch member of the Keswick, Ont., Hells
Angels was being flown to B.C. to face cocaine trafficking charges.

A Canada-wide warrant was also issued for another Ontario Hells Angels
associate who is alleged to have been involved in cocaine
trafficking.

It is alleged that "multi-kilograms" of cocaine were trucked from
Vancouver Island to lucrative markets in Toronto and that full-patch
members of the Hells Angels were in key positions at both ends.

"This is the result of the seizure of 10 kilograms of cocaine in
Nanaimo in 2003," said Insp. Pat Convey of the Combined Forces Special
Enforcement Unit. It is the agency which has led Project Halo, a
two-year, multi-police force investigation into alleged criminal
activity by members of Nanaimo Hells Angels.

The cocaine was seized from a tractor trailer with Ontario licence
plates near the Duke Point ferry terminal.

Full patch Hells Angel Lea Sheppe, 53, of Nanaimo, a businessman and
former owner of a Vancouver Island welding business and a west coast
ATV and boat charter business, was released on bail after being
charged with trafficking in a controlled substance and conspiracy to
traffic in a controlled substance.

Robbie Louis Lajeunesse, 43, of Nanaimo was released on bail after
being charged with trafficking in a controlled substance.

Both will appear in court again April 15 to fix a trial
date.

Michael Jeffery McImurray, 37, a Hells Angel from Keswick, Ont. will
appear in B.C. Supreme Court Monday charged with trafficking and
conspiracy to traffic and -- when he is found -- the same charges will
be laid against Nikolaos Petrantonakis, 34, of Markham, Ont.

Full patch members can wear coloured patches on their vests showing
they have reached the top echelon of the organization.

Project Halo included a raid on the Nanaimo clubhouse in December 2003
which netted three shotguns, a handgun and two boxes of ammunition, as
well as computer hard-drives, paperwork and odds and ends such as
clothes, a dinner plate and a playing card.

All the property seized, except the firearms, was returned to the
Hells Angels about six weeks ago and none of it will be used as
evidence in these trials, Convey said.

The charges are a victory for B.C. police, but fall short of
expectations laid out in the clubhouse search warrants which alleged
there were grounds to believe the Hells Angels were involved in drug
trafficking, drug production, assault, intimidation, extortion,
procuring -- which means enticing someone to become a prostitute --
and conspiracy to keep a common bawdy house.

"It is a good arrest because of the targets. It's good for B.C.
because these are colour-wearing members of the Hells Angels," Convey
said.

"The influence of the Hells Angels goes beyond the city or town they
are in. They work at a national or international level."

To the disappointment of police, none of Thursday's charges are under
federal organized crime legislation, which came into effect three
years ago in an effort to make life tougher for organized criminals.

"I am somewhat disappointed. We proposed it, but Crown counsel lays
the charges," Convey said.

Gerry Ferguson, criminal law professor at the University of Victoria,
said Crown counsel may have decided against using the new legislation
because proving a group is a crim-inal organization requires
additional evidence and could complicate a trial.

Members of the Hells Angels emphasize none of the men have been found
guilty and say, if they are, the activities do not involve the club.

"The Hells Angels don't traffic in cocaine. If you get caught doing
that, you're doing it completely on your own," said Fred Widdifield, a
Nanaimo member.

Widdifield said he is "astonished" that Sheppe has been charged with
drug trafficking.

"I've known Lea for decades and I think he's a good guy," he
said.

Sheppe was arrested on the road near his home and was believed to be
heading to the chapter's weekly "church" meeting.

The meeting went ahead, Widdifield said, but would not say what was
discussed.

"We knew he had been arrested," he said.

The lack of any charges relating to organized crime, despite intense
scrutiny by police, shows the Hells Angels is not a criminal gang,
Widdifield said.