The Hells Angels clubhouse on Ellis Street in Kelowna is one of three the province successfully seized after a Feb. 14, 2023, Court of Appeal decision.
Image Credit: FILE PHOTO
February 15, 2023 - 1:41 PM
The Hells Angels in Kelowna will give up their Ellis Street clubhouse after a recent ruling from the B.C. Court of Appeal.
It's one of three clubhouses B.C.'s Director of Civil Forfeiture successfully seized from the organized crime organization after more than a decade in court.
A B.C. Supreme Court decision originally ruled against the seizures in 2020.
After a June trial to appeal that decision, the province will seize the East End clubhouse in Vancouver and two others, one in Nanaimo and another Kelowna.
Hells Angels clubhouses are used to host weekly chapter meetings where members will decide who can join them, with strict rules against "snitches, junkies, cops or ex-cops," according to the decision.
The court didn't hear any direct evidence that members conspired criminal activity at the Kelowna clubhouse, but there was evidence of drug trafficking at the Vancouver clubhouse. The appeal decision found it reasonable to suggest the Kelowna and Nanaimo clubhouses gave a "safe space" to conspire future criminal activity.
Clubhouses also have security measures to prevent police from forced entry and surveillance, ensuring secrecy around their weekly meetings, according to the decision.
It didn't say who owns the Kelowna clubhouse, but the decision did say it's registered in the name of a current and a former member.
The appeal judges called Davies' decision a "monumental piece of work," which took 11 years to got to trial.
However, Court of Appeal Justices Mary Newbury, Christopher Grauer and Leonard Marchand found Barry incorrectly ruled their was no evidence of "future" criminal activity surrounding the clubhouses.
The decision puts a final stamp on the province's attempts to seize the 871 Ellis Street clubhouse in Kelowna, which began in 2012.
The Court of Appeal decision can be found here.
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