RDOS stays silent on bail concerns

Most of the region’s elected officials have resigned themselves to sharing their home communities with highrisk criminals.

Matt Taylor, who represents Okanagan Falls on the board of the Regional District of OkanaganSimilkameen, was on the losing end of a 19-1 vote last week to send a letter to the B.C. government expressing concern about the recent release of a high-profile drug dealer to the community while on bail.

As reported by The Herald in January, Scott William Cashman was sentenced in November 2022 to six years in prison for his connection to a June 2020 drug bust in Ridge Meadows that turned up an estimated $800,000 worth of illicit substances, including 3.5 kilograms of fentanyl.

Cashman subsequently filed an appeal and was granted bail in January 2023 to live in Okanagan Falls with his mother, who put up a $20,000 surety.

Cashman’s release was opposed by the Crown because of the threat he poses to public safety by virtue of his high-level involvement in the drug trade and his decision while on bail in October 2022 to show up at the RCMP detachment in 100 Mile House wearing body armour because he feared for his life.

Taylor’s concerns stem from Okanagan Falls lacking an RCMP detachment and being served by police from Penticton, and he wanted to give voice to those worries in a strongly worded letter to the B.C. government.

“My desire is for a sentencing judge to be cognizant of the communities he is sending somebody to. He approved sending someone on bail to Okanagan Falls and I’d like to speak to him about that,” said Taylor.

But there were no other takers on the RDOS board.

“In Kaleden, we’ve had our fair share of these sorts of situations, and from my research, typically individuals are released to where they have support, whether that be family or friends. If that happens to be in a rural community, it just happens to be where it is,” said Subrina Monteith, the RDOS director for Area I (Skaha West/Apex/Kaleden).

“I understand the frustration completely and it is challenging, but I don’t know if our voices would go far on that.”

Keremeos Mayor Jason Wiebe suggested the letter would have been more appropriate if it referred to a general desire for more police officers in the region.

“What I don’t want to get lost here is the community feeling lost with the lack of a police presence,” said Wiebe.