B.C. Hells Angel sentenced to 3 years for possessing proceeds of crime

A full-patch B.C. Hells Angel has been sentenced to three years in prison for possession of property obtained by crime.

Courtenay Lafreniere, 42, pleaded guilty to the charge in September and was sentenced Thursday by Vancouver provincial court Judge Paul Dohm.

In December 2022, Lafreniere, of the biker gang's Haney chapter, and several associates were charged after an eight-month investigation by the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit.

The probe began in 2020 into a group believed to be involved in a large-scale, interprovincial drug-trafficking operation.

During a July 2021 search, CFSEU officers found $65,570 in Lafreniere's Maple Ridge home, according to a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed in 2022. Some of it was bundled with elastic bands. There was also benzocaine, cocaine and 2.4 kilograms of cannabis.

In addition, police seized “a black leather Hells Angels vest,” a prohibited Taser prod, brass knuckles and a “56-pound tank of nitrous oxide.”

In a response to the civil forfeiture lawsuit, Lefreniere argued in July 2023 that his Charter rights were violated by police and that he “is not a member of a criminal organization.”

He also denied that “the money seized from the Lafreniere residence are proceeds or an instrument of unlawful activity and further denies they were used to engage in any unlawful activity.”

Other guilty pleas in the criminal case include Oakley Charest, who was sentenced to five years for trafficking and possession of a firearm and Matthew Shaw, who got a conditional sentence for trafficking.

Overall, the CFSEU investigation led to the seizure of about $650,000 in cash, two kilograms of cocaine, a kilo of fentanyl, a kilo of MDMA and 10 kilos of pot. Also seized were firearms, including a 9-mm handgun and ammunition, a .45-calibre handgun, prohibited SKS rifle magazines and ammo, three rifles, a shotgun, body armour and two vehicles.