A man who says he is a former prospect of the Hells Angels Winnipeg and Thunder Bay chapter around 1998 and now imprisoned on a drug conviction alleges in a lawsuit someone revealed to a lawyer linked to the Club that he was also an informant — then police didn’t protect him, the CBC reveals.
The plaintiff listed as John Doe in the statement of claim filed in Manitoba’s Court of Queen’s Bench on Jan. 25.
In 2013 he was recruited as police informant while was in prison and was released in August of the same year soon after agreed to cooperate.
After he was released he started to provide police with information regarding drug shipments, illegal cigaretes trade and communication channels including encrypted phones.
By the infomation written in the the statement of claim his contacts in Winnipeg Police Service were Const. Wes Law and later another officer, Grant Goulet.
The court filling says that information provided by plaintiff to the cops led to arrests and convctions of many people, including during Project Sideshow, a cross-country investigation that resulted in 14 arrests.
One of those arrested was alleged Hells Angels prospect Sean Demchuk, whos lawyer in 2015 got an information from somebody that plaintiff is a police informer, the court filing says.
The staement of claim allege that this person was working for the Crown in that period as a cop or attorney or may be as attorney assistant.
After this information leaked plaintiff allege that he got a call from his roommate who was a member of Hells Angels and who told him that the Club knows everything and he is “in trouble with the Club” now.
By the words of plaintiff that led to years on the run and multiple attempts on his life, now marked by “constant fear.”
After his identity was leaked, the man went ito police, said in the claim. He was taken into witness protection programm, put up in hotels and given $20 a day, which wasn’t enough to live, so he was forced to return to his job as truck driver and he was booted from the rotection progeamm as a result.
Plaintiff allege that he lived in his truck and rented rooms as he fled attempts on his life: a drive-by shooting in the parking lot of a Winnipeg mall, possible bomb left under his car in Thunder Bay, an axe left on the couch of his burglarized Winnipeg apartment.
Events described in in the claim happened as he awaited trial on the drug charge which was tied to a cocaine run in August 2014 — a few months before his identity was allegedly revealed.
What is interesting, in the claim alleged that plaintiff now imprisoned due to his curator from police, who for “reasons unknown” to the man, “either knowingly and recklessly or negligently gave false evidence to the court” that negated the man’s defence in allegedly planned operation aimed at a senior Hells Angels member in Burnaby, B.C..
The court filing says “John Doe” told his police contact, Goulet, about the job — to exchange a kilogram of “bad” cocaine for “good” cocaine with a senior Hells Angels member in Burnaby, B.C. — and recieved a green light to go along with it.
The man arranged to make a return trip to Vancouver as a truck driver and was arrested by RCMP on the way back for the cocaine but released without charges after he told the officer that he is an informant of Winnipeg police.
After that “John Doe” talked to Goulet and believed the officer “would look after it” so he wouldn’t be charged for the cocaine — but four months later, he was charged.
Then plaintiff told his counsel to subpoena Goulet to give evidence, but cop gave false evidence to the court.
The snitch was sentenced to six years in April 2018.
After he was imprisoned, he got another attempt on his life last April, when he was beaten and choked in his cell until a guard arrived, the statement of claim says.
The court filing says the man believes the inmate who left him with deep face cuts and broken teeth is a member of the Hells Angels-affiliated Zig Zag Crew.
The man is now seeking damages. The statement of claim says the situation violated his informer privilege and right to life, liberty and security under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It also cost him money and affected his ability to earn, the filing says.
Winnipeg Police Service spokesperson Const. Jay Murray said in an email police had not been served on Sunday morning and declined to comment. The province did not respond to a request for comment.
The statement of claim lists the City of Winnipeg, the Winnipeg Police Service, police chief Danny Smyth, officers Goulet and Law, the Government of Manitoba and Manitoba Attorney General Cameron Friesen as defendants.
None of the allegations have been proven in court, and a statement of defence has not yet been filed.
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