Government wants cash seized from Jaguar rented by rapper's dad
Province's lawsuit alleges money, with traces of drugs, came from trafficking
When Vancouver police officers pulled over a rented Jaguar last November, they found a white garbage bag stuffed with more than $20,000 cash.
Driving the vehicle was an Ontario man named Kevon Henry, the manager for Toronto rapper Pressa, who is a close associate of several Brothers Keepers gang members in B.C.
The Jaguar had been rented about 70 minutes earlier by Pressa's dad — convicted killer Mark Gardner — who was out on parole at the time.
He was not in the Jaguar with Henry and three others when it was pulled over in the 300 block of West Pender on Nov. 28, at around 8 p.m. But Gardner's parole was suspended for several months over the incident, according to Parole Board of Canada documents obtained by Postmedia.
The B.C. director of civil forfeiture says in a lawsuit naming Henry and Gardner that the government agency should be able to keep the cash as suspected drug proceeds.
The director claims in a March 18 lawsuit that the cash had “been used by the defendants to engage in unlawful activities,” including possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime, and failure to declare taxable income. The lawsuit said that when Henry was stopped, he had an Avis rental contract signed by himself and Gardner for a white BMW and not the Jaguar.
“Mr. Henry was unable to provide the rental agreement for the vehicle. (Vancouver police were) not satisfied that Mr. Henry was the intended driver of the vehicle,” the statement of claim said. “(Police) searched the vehicle for the rental contract and located inside the glove compartment a white garbage bag containing $20,470 in Canadian currency ... which was bundled or packaged in a manner not consistent with standard banking practices.”
The money was seized and Henry was arrested, although police later learned that Avis had transferred the rental contract to the Jaguar because “due to an inventory error, the BMW was not available for rental.”
The cash tested positive for traces of cocaine, methamphetamines and fentanyl, the director said.
No statement of defence has yet been filed. Henry was not charged in the case.
More details about the traffic stop and Gardner's knowledge of the incident are contained in a Parole Board of Canada ruling recently released to Postmedia.
It says that police advised the parole board on Dec. 22 about the Jaguar incident, which resulted in Gardner's parole suspension for almost three months. Gardner had not informed his parole officer about Henry or the fact he had rented the luxury SUV for him.
“Your associate claimed the money and said that it was being used to make a music video, although police had concerns about the true source of the money,” stated the parole decision by board member Ashifa Dhanani. “You denied any involvement in criminal activity. You said that the associate was your son's music manager who came from Ontario to shoot a music video. You said that your associate did not have enough credit to rent the vehicle, so you offered your credit card.”
The decision noted that police intelligence “indicates that the record label this individual and your son is associated to have connections with a gang.”
“You were unable to provide a rationale for why your son's manager, who appeared to be successful, did not have enough credit to get his own vehicle. … You said the money was being used as a prop in the music video and this was common in the industry,” Dhanani said.
She questioned why Gardner would have rented the vehicle for a video that Pressa wouldn't be in as he was in the U.S. at the time. The 24-year-old rapper once travelled to Russia with Brothers Keepers gangster Naseem Mohammed, who is currently a fugitive and murder suspect.
Gardner was convicted of second-degree murder for fatally shooting a volunteer bouncer outside a dance in Ontario in 1996.
Dhanani noted that despite the car rental issue, Gardner had been on parole successfully for two years.
“The Board also considered that this was a one-time-only incident and the majority of reports related to your progress in the community have been positive and you have demonstrated motivation and progress in the direction of developing a prosocial lifestyle,” Dhanani said, reversing the suspension and allowing Gardner to be released again.