Lawyers in suspected biker gang drug case to meet next week
Two of the accused, Vincent Leonard Sr. and Wayne Johnson, set to enter pleas Nov. 2
Lawyers for suspected bike gang members facing drug charges will meet in private with a judge next week to discuss details in a case that consists of more than 75,000 pages of documents.
The cases of two of the accused — Vincent A. Leonard Sr., 59, and Wayne Joseph Johnson, 58 — were called in provincial court in St. John’s Wednesday morning, when Oct. 26 was set as the date for the meeting.
Leonard and Johnson will be back in court Nov. 2, when they are expected to enter pleas to multiple charges of possessing and trafficking drugs.
The two men, who police say are members of the Vikings Motorcycle Club and affiliated with the Hells Angels, were charged a year ago after police executed search warrants at six locations in Cupids and St. John’s.
Among the items seized by police were Vikings vests, pins and patches, weapons, photos, jewelry, two pickup trucks, eight motorcycles, cash, cocaine, cannabis resin, oxycodone pills, temazepam pills and a powder that contained fentanyl.
Eight other men were also charged: Thomas Snow, Allister Hayley, Kenneth Kerrivan, James Curran, Joseph Mcintyre, Dr. Brendan Hollohan, and two of Leonard’s sons — Shane Leonard and Vincent Leonard Jr.
Leonard Jr. was sentenced last month on two charges of trafficking cocaine, after making a plea deal with the Crown. He was handed an 18-month jail sentence, followed by a year of probation and a 10-year firearms ban.
The 10 arrests stemmed from an investigation into the murder of Dale Porter, who was stabbed to death on his property in North River in June 2014. Two men, Allan Potter and Daniel Leonard — another son of Leonard Sr. — are charged with first-degree murder, and their preliminary inquiry is set to take place next month.
That investigation became Operation Bombard, a joint RCMP/RNC investigation that included alleged criminal activity of the Vikings.