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WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 26, 2020 | Volume 33 No. 48
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FAME AND AWARDS
AUTHOR REVEALED
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The best in sports now and then are honoured at gala
Ask An Addict writer introduces herself to readers
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Charges dropped from raid that found drugs, bombs CHARLES PATRICK AND CAMERON COLE WERE FACING DOZENS OF COUNTS FROM 2018 INCIDENTS TIM PETRUK
STAFF REPORTER
tim@kamloopsthisweek.com
An alleged Kamloops gang kingpin and an accomplice facing a slew of charges of stemming from a police search that turned up bombs and an Uzi have had all counts against them dropped. The move from prosecutors came on the eve of trial, a lengthy B.C. Supreme Court hearing that was slated to begin this week with an application from lawyers representing Cameron Cole and Charles Patrick, alleging police violated their Charter rights during the search. Defence lawyers Jeremy Jensen and Sheldon Tate had been scheduled to begin arguing on Monday that Cole and Patrick had their Charter rights violated when police responding to a 911 call began poking around inside a Dallas home, illegally turning up evidence used to obtain search warrants that led to further discoveries. Items seized included an Uzi submachine gun, two pistols, a rifle and four improvised explosive devices, as well as cash and drugs. Cole, 37, and Patrick, 64, were arrested in December 2018 — nearly a year after a 911 call led Mounties to a Badger Drive home Cole had allegedly been renting under an alias. Police responded to 8778 Badger Dr. on Jan. 16, 2018, for a report of a home invasion. Officers securing the scene
DAVE EAGLES/KTW FILE In January 2018, Kamloops RCMP searched a commercial unit at 1485 Lorne St., along with two homes elsewhere in the city. Items seized included an Uzi submachine gun, two pistols, a rifle and four improvised explosive devices, as well as cash and drugs.
entered the house, which is permissible in the case of an emergency. In such cases, police are typically allowed under the Charter to make general observations, but not conduct thorough searches. The Charter application filed on behalf of Cole and Patrick, a copy of which was obtained by KTW, alleges the officers who responded to the 911 call cleared and secured the house, conducted interviews with witnesses, then went back into the house and conducted a search. “In the course of this search, RCMP members thoroughly searched various closed containers and rooms, seizing ammunition, firearms and explosive materials,”
the document alleges. Investigators returned with a warrant the following day. Additional searches were conducted at a house on Enzo Road in Westsyde and, later, at a Lorne Street business downtown. The allegations in the Charter application have not been tested in court — and will not be now that the charges against Cole and Patrick have been dropped. A convicted drug trafficker, Cole is believed to be at the top of one of two major criminal operations in Kamloops. He has been free on bail since December 2018, living under strict house arrest conditions in a home
CAMERON COLE
CHARLES PATRICK
he shares with his family in an Edmonton suburb. Patrick has also been free on bail since January 2019, the same month Kamloops This Week published a letter to the editor from him, in which he professed his innocence. When contacted by KTW, Kamloops RCMP Staff Sgt. Simon Pillay said he couldn’t comment on what happens — or, in this case, doesn’t — in court. He added he could not comment on the alleged Charter violations against Cole and Patrick or the work of police officers who responded to the 911 call. Instead, Pillay, head of the city detachment’s plainclothes operations, provided a written statement. “We remain committed to the vigorous investigation of all violent and organized crime cases in our community,” the statement reads.
Calls to the Kamloops Crown counsel office were directed to a BC Prosecution Service representative in Vancouver. “After carefully reviewing the available evidence in light of relevant law, Crown counsel determined that the BC Prosecution Service’s charge assessment standard was no longer met,” Alisia Adams told KTW. Adams said provincial Crown prosecutors in B.C. are required to constantly measure the evidence in their files against a two-part test — whether there is a substantial likelihood of conviction and whether the public interest requires a prosecution. “The test continues to apply throughout any prosecution,” she said. “Where that test is no longer met, it is appropriate for Crown counsel to direct a stay of proceedings.”
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