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Drug trial underway for Langley man

Leonard Pelletier is charged with five counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking
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Sgt. Lindsay Houghton, of the gang unit, held a press conference in July 2014 to show the $400,000 worth of drugs seized along with drug-making equipment from a mansion on 236 Street in Langley. Two men were charged in connection to the drug house. One of them is Leonard Pelletier whose trial is underway. The other, Jason Wallace, has already pleaded guilty and will be sentenced this month.

The Crown’s case against Leonard Pelletier concluded in Supreme Court in New Westminster last week.

Pelletier, 49, is on trial, charged with five counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking and one count of obstructing a police officer.

The charges stem from a July 2014 arrest where B.C.’s gang unit shut down a large drug making facility based out of a Langley mansion.

The Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit seized $400,000 worth of cocaine, meth, heroin, and a large quantity of drug-making paraphernalia from a 10,000-square-foot home in the 4600 block of 236 Street.

On the day police executed the warrant, two men were arrested in connection to the drug house. One was Pelletier and the other was Jason Wallace. Both weren’t charged until 2015.

Wallace has already pleaded guilty to six counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking. He is expected to be sentenced July 6.

Wallace, 27, is behind bars, charged in the killing of high ranking Hells Angel, Robert Green, at a Langley property last year.

Federal Crown counsel Michelle Wiancko spent three days presenting witness testimony from several officers involved with the case, including the exhibits officer who took pictures and bagged evidence from the Langley drug house. Another officer, a fingerprint expert and an expert on drugs and drug trafficking, took the stand.

The first officer to testify said in July 2014, at the time of Pelletier’s arrest and the raid on the drug house, he was an investigator with the CFSE unit, targeting drug traffickers associated to gangs.

On July 18, he carried out surveillance on the Langley house on 236 Street.

The corporal was part of the warrant execution on the home a few days later, taking pictures of the interior and collecting evidence.

He described the large suite as containing no furniture.

It was instead filled with drugs and drug making paraphernalia. In the home, 1,980 grams of cocaine, 2,000 grams of meth, 522 grams of heroin and 43,500 grams of cutting agent were found and seized, he said.

Inside the kitchen were mixing and cooking dishes, covered with white powder residue, digital scales, food sealing machines and baggies. In the living room were multiple cellphones, lotto papers and score sheets.

There were also two backpacks with more drugs found inside, one held a brick of cocaine and the other backpack had baggies of cocaine. Forensic experts were able to get a positive forensic hit on one of those baggies, said the officer.

The officer also testified that Pelletier was arrested that day while in a black truck, when another officer seized a set of keys from that truck’s ignition.

The officer testified that he watched that officer try the various keys on the chain to open up the locked door to the drug house. One of the keys from the set seized from the truck Pelletier was arrested in unlocked the suite.

He also testified that a key chain seized from Wallace also unlocked the door to the drug house.

The home, which was divided into apartments, housed a 20-tonne press to make the cocaine bricks. Among the drugs, police seized 44 kg of super buffer, which is used to dilute cocaine so they can “double their profit.”

One of the buffers used was caffeine and another was pig dewormer.

Pelletier’s defense lawyer has asked for three days to present his case and witnesses. Crown and defense are meeting again this week to agree on a schedule for the trial to resume. Judge Blok remarked that it will be difficult to settle on a date to resume because he, too, gets a vacation.



Monique Tamminga

About the Author: Monique Tamminga

Monique brings 20 years of award-winning journalism experience to the role of editor at the Penticton Western News. Of those years, 17 were spent working as a senior reporter and acting editor with the Langley Advance Times.
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