Videos feature weapons, money, illicit substances

Video footage from inside a city residence showed individuals handling money, firearms and what appeared to be illicit substances, court heard on Wednesday during a trial for a man accused of being a part of a Brandon-based drug trafficking organization.

Jorg Rautenberg is standing trial in Brandon Court of King’s Bench and is charged with conspiracy to traffic methamphetamine, cocaine and fentanyl, along with conspiracy to possess proceeds of crime, intentional discharge of a firearm reckless to the safety of a human life, assault and assault with a weapon.

Rautenberg is accused of taking part in a drug trafficking organization that was dismantled in April 2021 as a result of Project Debris, which was a joint investigation by the Manitoba RCMP, Brandon Police Service and Rivers Police Service.

On Tuesday, Cpl. Tyler Johnson, who was the primary investigator and file co-ordinator in Project Debris while working in the RCMP’s Manitoba Organized Crime Unit (MOCU), was called as the Crown’s first witness.

Now, he is a member of the RCMP’s Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team (MILET).

Johnson testified that one of Rautenberg’s co-accused was the original subject of the investigation before it progressed into Project Debris, which he described as an investigation into Rautenberg and “his drug trafficking organization.”

The Crown asked Johnson questions regarding the evidence gathered through the seven-month long investigation, which consisted of physical surveillance, intercepted phone calls and text messages as well as surveillance cameras showing the exterior and interior of a residence believed to be Rautenberg’s.

His direct examination continued Wednesday.

Crown attorney Hugh Crawley played a video taken from inside the residence that showed two men interacting. Johnson testified that one of those men was Rautenberg and that he believed the other was one of his co-accused.

“We see something handed to Mr. Rautenberg at this point?” Crawley said.

“Yes, (the man) handed Mr. Rautenberg some money,” Johnson answered, testifying earlier that it looked like a “stack of money.”

Another video showed a man walking around the residence with what Johnson said was a metal pot “full of money.”

Crawley played another video, which showed a man walking around with an item, and asked Johnson what that item was.

“He’s holding a firearm in his right hand,” Johnson said.

The next clip showed the man in another room. When Crawley asked what he appeared to be doing, Johnson said it looked like he was putting something into the floorboards.

When asked whether these clips prompted any investigative action, Johnson said it did. He said in July, when a search was conducted, he looked for the hole in the floorboards.

“Ultimately, were you able to recover firearms?” Crawley asked.

Johnson said he did from the unit below the residence that was believed to be Rautenberg’s.

Crawley played several videos that showed what Johnson described as people handling money, passing bags with white substances in them and inhaling substances.

The Crown also played a video showing a man and a woman interacting with each other. Johnson said the man in the video was Rautenberg and was asked to describe what was happening.

“He appeared to punch her with his right hand,” he said. “She’s holding the side of her head.”

The man then left the room before re-entering and making a gesture that caused the woman to jump back.

In a recording of an intercepted phone call between a phone registered to Rautenberg and another registered to a woman, the two discussed a man who said he “needs a couple ounces” and how to zero out a scale. No specific reference to substances was made during the call.

Johnson’s direct examination is set to continue today.

» sanderson@brandonsun.com