Series of bungles led to release of son of biker boss from Montreal jail
• A series of embarrassing errors worthy of a screw ball comedy is what sprung Francis Boucher, the son of one of the most notorious criminals in Canada, from a detention centre in March, two months before his sentence was up.
The first mistake occurred when guards were unable to figure out whether Michel Stephane Boucher, another inmate at the Montreal Detention Centre, was required to serve two sentences he received concurrently or consecutively.
Sandra Pigeon, an investigator with the Sûreté du Québec testifying at Francis Boucher’s bail hearing on Thursday, said that when the guards determined Michel Stephane Boucher was supposed to serve his sentences concurrently, they realized he had been detained too long.
The second mistake came when a guard was ordered to free Michel Stephane Boucher immediately. Because the guards were occupied with a lot of work that morning, one of them grabbed “the first file with the name Boucher on it” and began the release procedure.
When Francis Boucher — the 40-year-old son of Maurice (Mom) Boucher, who is serving life for ordering the murders of guards — was informed he was about to be freed “he seemed surprised,” Pigeon told the court.
The younger Boucher was a member of a Hells Angels puppet gang during the biker gang war that lasted from 1994 to 2002. He served a significant federal sentence for his role in the conflict.
As he was about to leave the detention centre, Boucher was handed all of Michel Stephane Boucher’s personal effects, including his wallet, and a release document with the other inmate’s name on it. Boucher signed his own name to the document and a guard also signed it, without noticing that Boucher’s signature did not match.
Boucher was given a lift to the gates and was handed bus fare as part of a standard procedure. A video, taken of the exterior of the detention centre and shown in court Thursday, revealed that Boucher quickly ditched the sports bag and paper bag con- taining Michel Stephane Boucher’s personnel effects.
The Crown has argued that is proof that Boucher understood he was not supposed to leave the detention centre on March 23, because when he entered, he did not have any personal belongings. The video also captured images of him taking off his baseball cap and gesturing toward the detention centre, as if he were saying goodbye.
Pigeon said the guards realized their error 20 minutes after Boucher left.
He turned himself in four days later after a massive manhunt had been launched. He is charged with escaping from legal custody, being at large without excuse and identity fraud.
He testified at his bail hearing on Thursday that he hopes to work in the construction industry, in demolition, if he is released.
He listed his principal residence as the large estate where his father lived, when Maurice Boucher was the leader of the Hells Angels’ Nomads chapter in Montreal.
Quebec Court Judge Thierry Nadon decided that Boucher should be detained.