Four St. Albertans and one man from Morinville have been charged after a drug smuggling ring between Edmonton and the Bowden Institution was busted.
The five were part of 11 total people charged with 60 offences after the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Teams (ALERT) organized crime team partnered with the Correctional Services of Canada (CSC), the St. Albert, Morinville and Innisfail RCMP, Edmonton and Winnipeg Police Services.
The investigation ended on Dec. 17 and police seized 35 grams of fentanyl, 88 grams of methamphetamine, 620 grams of cocaine, 1,341 grams of cocaine buffing agent, 1,745 grams of cannabis along with a handgun with a removed serial number and $206,000 of cash.
“This was a very well-organized, well-coordinated group. Their drug activities jeopardized community safety and hurt communities big and small,” said ALERT Staff Sgt. Blayne Eliuk in a media release.
“By introducing drugs into the prison system, this substantially put the health and safety of not only inmates, but also corrections staff and officers, at risk.”
Garreth Curry-McCallum, 23, from St. Albert; Brendan Baer, 23, from St. Albert; Nolan Arndt, 24, from St. Albert; Kolby Gordon, 23, from St. Albert; and Jesse Riedlhuber, 23, from Morinville are all facing charges.
David Klassen, 31, currently incarcerated at Bowden Institute; Nicolas Moores, 29, from Edmonton; Tyler Kemps, 25, from Edmonton; Tyler Willimont, 24, from Edmonton; Jessa Brianne Ivicak, 23, from Edmonton; and Chayce Anthony Krause, 26, currently incarcerated at Bowden Institute, are also facing charges.
Curry-McCallum faces the most charges, 16 in total, while Riedlhubeer faces 10 charges. Baer faces seven, Arndt faces three and Gordon faces two.
Their charges include participating in a criminal organization, instructing a crime to occur for that organization, conspiracy to traffic drugs, delivering contraband to an inmate, possessing the proceeds of crime, possession for the purpose of trafficking drugs, possession of a prohibited firearm, unauthorized firearm and firearm contrary to an order, and tampering with a firearm serial number.
