Gun trial linked to Project Forseti begins

A Fallen Saints motorcycle club member sentenced to six years in prison for abducting and assaulting his ex-fiancée is on trial in Saskatoon for gun charges laid in connection with the Project Forseti investigation.

The provincial court matter for Clint James McLaughlin, 39, is being held in Court of Queen’s Bench. Extra security was in place on Monday as Noel Harder, a fellow member of the Fallen Saints who turned police agent, testified as the Crown’s first witness.

Harder said McLaughlin made him take guns that were stored in the attic of his garage on March 28, 2014. McLaughlin wanted to get rid of them because he was paranoid about police searching his home and couldn’t leave while on electronic monitoring, Harder said.

He testified he didn’t want the guns but felt pressured into taking them. Harder said McLaughlin’s then-girlfriend — the same woman McLaughlin viciously attacked just months later — helped load black hockey bags and cases of guns into his truck.

Court heard Harder also obtained a rifle from another man after he left McLaughlin’s house.

Later that day, police caught Harder driving with the guns. Harder said he agreed to work with police and was released the next day without charges. He eventually became a police agent for Project Forseti, the massive drug and gun investigation targeting the Fallen Saints and Hells Angels.

McLaughlin was charged last year with 17 firearm-related offences involving eight guns: four rifles, two shotguns and two restricted handguns. The accused was a “firearms fanatic” known for offering to stash people’s guns in a “secret storage spot” on his farm, Harder testified.

In a recorded phone conversation the day Harder was released from police custody, he told McLaughlin about getting arrested and wondered who would have tipped police off about the guns. At the time, he thought McLaughlin set him up, Harder testified.