Drug suspect chased surveillance officer through city streets
A judge had some cutting remarks about the conduct of a Surrey man, suspected of being a major drug dealer, who aggressively pursued a police officer conducting surveillance on him through the streets of downtown Vancouver and later waved at his surveillance.
Vancouver provincial court Judge Frances Howard was referring to Frederic Dwayne Wilson turning the tables on his surveillance on March 15, 2012, and chasing the police vehicle for two or three minutes, and Wilson waving at the surveillance officers on May 1, 2012.
“It was certainly bizarre behaviour by Wilson on both days,” said the judge, who convicted Wilson of five drug charges.
“In assessing the weight to be attached to this behaviour, I am mindful of two related considerations: 1) our local criminals are not always as smart as they think they are and 2) Const. Huff (the officer to whom Wilson waved on May 1) testified that some surveillance targets derive some pleasure from letting the surveillance officers know that they have been ‘made’ or spotted.”
Police began their investigation after receiving information that Wilson was suspected of trafficking drugs at the multi-kilo level to northern B.C. and Eastern Canada.
Surveillance placed on Wilson and Thai Lee Nguyen, the boyfriend of Wilson’s spouse’s daughter, led police to a highrise condo at 821 Cambie Street in Vancouver being rented by Wilson.
On May 1, 2012, police pulled over Nguyen and searched his vehicle. They found nearly four kilograms of cocaine, 770 grams of MDMA powder, 406 grams of methamphetamine, 20 fentanyl pills and 14 grams of heroin. Police also seized an unsecured and loaded Smith and Wesson .38 calibre revolver.
After obtaining a search warrant, police entered the condo, detected the chemical odour of cocaine and noted that the kitchen counters were dusted with cocaine powder.
Police also found items consistent with use in a meth lab, including more than a kilogram of ephedrine, and a four-litre jug labelled to contain muriatic acid, which is used to turn a meth base into salt.
The judge noted that it was a circumstantial case but found the evidence pointed to Wilson’s guilt. She convicted him of possession of cocaine, methamphetamine and MDMA for the purpose of trafficking, possession of ephedrine for the purposes of production and possession of muriatic acid to produce methamphetamine.
After losing a challenge to the admissibility of evidence, Nguyen’s lawyer invited the judge to convict Nguyen on possession of cocaine and methamphetamine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of a loaded, prohibited firearm without authorization, and the judge convicted him of those charges. Nguyen has a sentencing hearing June 1. Wilson’s hearing is June 30.