New allegations against man who beat trafficking charges in 2019

For a second time, the B.C. government is asking that a Coquitlam house owned by Dennis Halstead be forfeited as a proceed of crime.

Three years after trafficking charges against him were dropped, Coquitlam’s Dennis Halstead is allegedly back in the drug trade and facing new allegations that he is part of a criminal organization.

And for the second time, the B.C. government is asking that a Coquitlam house owned by Halstead on Rochester Avenue be forfeited as a proceed of crime, along with more than $50,000 in cash and several luxury watches found inside.

The director of civil forfeiture filed a second lawsuit against Halstead this week, alleging that he and others frequented a Maple Ridge property where RCMP found a clandestine drug lab in August.

The statement of claim stated that the RCMP began its investigation into Halstead, Shawn Jason Cappis and Balbinder Johal last April.

All three used vehicles that the government also wants forfeited to travel to the lab at 12780 248 St. in Maple Ridge and to store and transport lab equipment to and from the property, the director said.

“On various dates during the investigation, garbage disposed from the 248 Street property included paper towels, a strainer, jars with chemical residue, multiple empty five-litre jugs, empty packaging for personal protective equipment, a 2,000 mL round-bottom flask, and containers labelled toluene,” the claim stated.

It also said that Health Canada analyzed the garbage and determined that it contained MDMA and precursor chemicals used to make MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy.

Investigators executed several search warrants on Aug. 17 at the Maple Ridge lab and three Coquitlam houses — the Rochester property, a house on Finnigan Street where Halstead lives with his wife, and at Johal’s house on Sorrento Drive.

At the Maple Ridge property, which is owned by a Merritt company, police found an “active clandestine laboratory consisting of lab equipment, various chemicals in bags, boxes, and containers, a large scale, chillers, ovens, a hot plate, measuring cups, personal protection devices/laboratory wear,” the lawsuit said.

The illicit substances found inside included almost 60 kilograms of crystallized and powdered MDMA in various colours, cannabis inside a black suitcase and a shopping bag, a Sig Sauer .45 firearm magazine, and a cellphone jammer.

Cappis and Johal were at the lab and arrested, the lawsuit said. No criminal charges have been laid against either of them or Halstead. No one from the RCMP’s Federal Serious and Organized Crime unit returned calls or messages Thursday.

At Halstead’s Rochester property, police found a large industrial chiller used in the chemical industry, a tracking device, and more than 200 kilograms of an MDMA precursor chemical.

At his home on Finnigan, investigators seized more than $57,000 in cash, three cellphones, an extendable ASP baton, two Rolexes and two Audemars watches.

During the search of Johal’s house, police found $23,199 and receipts for the rental of a pallet jack and more over $225,000 worth of laboratory equipment, with some receipts indicating cash payments, the court document said. There were also “score sheets” indicating drug transactions, as well as seven more expensive watches.

The civil forfeiture director said Halstead, Cappis and Johal have been involved in production and trafficking of illicit substances for a criminal organization, laundered the proceeds of crime, and not declared taxable income. No statements of defence have yet been filed.

After a major Vancouver police investigation dubbed Project Trooper, Halstead was identified as the leader of a drug trafficking ring and faced several charges laid in 2016, as well as a civil forfeiture case that targeted cash and several properties.

But his criminal charges were stayed in April 2019 after a B.C. Supreme Court judge found several breaches of his Charter rights were committed by police during the investigation. Halstead reached a settlement with the B.C. government over some of the assets seized at the time — something he complained about in a CBC interview in 2019.

kbolan@postmedia.com

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