A Winnipeg man, accused of bringing a gun, booze and drugs to the Brandon jail while there to pick up an inmate, has been denied bail.
Crown attorney Grant Hughes described the dramatic arrest during a bail hearing on Monday, but the man’s name is protected by a publication ban.
Hughes said that the arrest was the result of investigators intercepting an outgoing call from the jail which mentioned going out to party with the “white stuff.”
On April 17, around 11:35 p.m., a Pontiac Sunfire pulled into the admissions area at the jail.
Vehicles have to enter the enclosed area through a gate.
The car carried a man and a woman, who were there to pick up a prisoner who was due to be released that night.
Once parked in the secure enclosure, a woman who had been driving the car got out and entered a jail building.
There, she was detained, searched and found with three baggies that held what is believed to be crystal meth.
Brandon police officers then made a “high-risk takedown” to arrest the man who sat in the car’s passenger seat.
The man stepped out of the vehicle but, after repeatedly failing to follow police directions, he was rushed by a police officer and taken to the ground.
After some resistance, he was finally handcuffed.
As the man was raised to his feet, police spotted a small handgun under the car’s passenger seat.
The gun, which appeared to date from the 1800s, was loaded with two live rounds and contained a casing from a previously fired round.
Also inside the car, police found about three grams of marijuana and a small amount of a white, powdery substance believed to be a cocaine cutting agent.
The arrested man smelled of alcohol and in the car police also found an open bottle of vodka and a bottle of whisky.
The man, who was also wanted on warrants out of Alberta, has been held at the Brandon jail since.
The above allegations as outlined by Hughes haven’t been proven in court.
Beyond the details of the arrest, Hughes told court that he’s also concerned due to the Winnipeg address the accused man gave police.
It’s the same address that was given by his girlfriend, the woman who had been driving the car.
It’s the address for her father, a convicted full-patch Hells Angels member who was arrested during Project Defence in February 2006.
The 22-year-old man arrested at the jail also has friends tied to numerous gangs, Hughes said, including the Bandidos outlaw biker gang.
Despite that, defence lawyer Philip Sieklicki told court that the accused maintains he’s not part of a gang.
Judge John Combs denied bail, however, and set the accused’s next court date for May 14.
» ihitchen@brandonsun.com
Republished from the Brandon Sun print edition May 8, 2012
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