Jim Finnel
Fallen Cannabis Warrior & Ex News Moderator
A Surrey Mountie and Chilliwack businessman has been charged with marijuana trafficking and more than a dozen gun offences.
Const. David Clarke, 35, is charged with selling marijuana and possessing stolen pot along with stolen ID documents and police property. Additional charges relate to alleged possession of a semi-automatic FN FAL assault rifle, a Glock 9mm pistol, a Colt pistol, a Mossberg pump-action shotgun, a Remington Mohawk semi-automatic rifle and ammo magazines.
Clarke has been a Surrey RCMP member for four-and-a-half years. He also runs a Chilliwack-based business called LEO Productions.
His company's website, www.leoproductions.ca, says, "we specialize in bringing in speakers and hosting seminars that are geared toward law-enforcement officers," and features photos of what appear to be an RCMP cruiser and an RCMP-issue service pistol. The site provides a mailing address in Chilliwack, at a Corbould Street property shown by provincial land titles records to be co-owned by Clarke, who lists his occupation as "public servant."
The majority of the offences with which Clarke was charged, including the marijuana trafficking, are alleged to have been committed in Chilliwack, according to court documents.
"They are serious charges," said B.C. RCMP spokesman Sgt. Rob Vermeulen. "It's disappointing any time we see a police officer charged. It's disappointing not just for the public but for other police officers. It tends to paint us all with the same brush."
Vermeulen said police conducted a "thorough and fast investigation" of Clarke.
"The allegation was made Oct. 1. Two-and-a-half months later he's appearing in court to answer to those charges," Vermeulen said.
Clarke has been suspended with pay since Oct. 5. RCMP brass are reviewing the case to determine if he should be suspended without pay, Vermeulen said.
The charged Mountie will remain suspended pending the outcome of court proceedings and an internal investigation, Vermeulen said.
Clarke is named in a lawsuit by members of the Bader family, whose properties were raided during a firearms investigation in May 2008 that saw hundreds of guns seized. Five members of the family were charged with a host of gun offences, but the charges were later stayed. Vermeulen said he could not say whether there was any connection between weapons allegedly in possession of Clarke and the Bader family raids.
However, Clarke and an RCMP firearms-enforcement officer who initiated the raids and is named in the suit have both started side businesses pursuing the law-enforcement market, the same clientele pursued by Travis Bader's Silvercore Advanced Training Systems.
In the suit, filed in May, Clarke is alleged by the plaintiffs to have participated in unlawful search and arrest, false imprisonment, assault and battery and malicious prosecution.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: chilliwacktimes.com
Author: Ethan Baron
Copyright: 2010 Postmedia Network Inc
Contact: Contact Us - Chilliwack Times
Website: Mountie facing serious charges
Const. David Clarke, 35, is charged with selling marijuana and possessing stolen pot along with stolen ID documents and police property. Additional charges relate to alleged possession of a semi-automatic FN FAL assault rifle, a Glock 9mm pistol, a Colt pistol, a Mossberg pump-action shotgun, a Remington Mohawk semi-automatic rifle and ammo magazines.
Clarke has been a Surrey RCMP member for four-and-a-half years. He also runs a Chilliwack-based business called LEO Productions.
His company's website, www.leoproductions.ca, says, "we specialize in bringing in speakers and hosting seminars that are geared toward law-enforcement officers," and features photos of what appear to be an RCMP cruiser and an RCMP-issue service pistol. The site provides a mailing address in Chilliwack, at a Corbould Street property shown by provincial land titles records to be co-owned by Clarke, who lists his occupation as "public servant."
The majority of the offences with which Clarke was charged, including the marijuana trafficking, are alleged to have been committed in Chilliwack, according to court documents.
"They are serious charges," said B.C. RCMP spokesman Sgt. Rob Vermeulen. "It's disappointing any time we see a police officer charged. It's disappointing not just for the public but for other police officers. It tends to paint us all with the same brush."
Vermeulen said police conducted a "thorough and fast investigation" of Clarke.
"The allegation was made Oct. 1. Two-and-a-half months later he's appearing in court to answer to those charges," Vermeulen said.
Clarke has been suspended with pay since Oct. 5. RCMP brass are reviewing the case to determine if he should be suspended without pay, Vermeulen said.
The charged Mountie will remain suspended pending the outcome of court proceedings and an internal investigation, Vermeulen said.
Clarke is named in a lawsuit by members of the Bader family, whose properties were raided during a firearms investigation in May 2008 that saw hundreds of guns seized. Five members of the family were charged with a host of gun offences, but the charges were later stayed. Vermeulen said he could not say whether there was any connection between weapons allegedly in possession of Clarke and the Bader family raids.
However, Clarke and an RCMP firearms-enforcement officer who initiated the raids and is named in the suit have both started side businesses pursuing the law-enforcement market, the same clientele pursued by Travis Bader's Silvercore Advanced Training Systems.
In the suit, filed in May, Clarke is alleged by the plaintiffs to have participated in unlawful search and arrest, false imprisonment, assault and battery and malicious prosecution.
NewsHawk: User: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: chilliwacktimes.com
Author: Ethan Baron
Copyright: 2010 Postmedia Network Inc
Contact: Contact Us - Chilliwack Times
Website: Mountie facing serious charges
