The RCMP's Priority Crimes Task Force has put down another major organized crime trafficking operation in the region and it has an Innisfail connection.
Earlier this month, the task force, which partnered with the Calgary Police Service (CPS), was called upon to execute recent search warrants in Calgary and Red Deer for their operation, which began with a probe in Calgary 10 months ago. The operations yielded large amounts of guns, ammunition and drugs, and sent three people to jail, including suspects who had ties to Innisfail.
“It is not just a Calgary-Red Deer thing. These guys have spent a lot of time in and around Innisfail, Blackfalds and Sylvan Lake,” said Innisfail RCMP Cpl. Don Morrish, who confirmed that his detachment assisted in the operation. “They frequent hotels and so forth, anywhere they can stop and stay for a couple of nights. We've had files related to them but we can't get into too much detail.”
However, one man arrested, 30-year-old Shawn Barry Steier of Red Deer, was charged by Calgary police on Dec. 29 with possession of stolen property over $5,000, a vehicle that was stolen out of the Innisfail RCMP detachment area on Dec. 23, said Morrish.
In a news release issued on Jan. 18, Red Deer RCMP Sgt. Eric McKenzie said six searches by Calgary police and RCMP in a City of Red Deer apartment, two hotel rooms in Gasoline Alley, and two residences in Calgary, yielded three sets of body armour with two containing a ceramic plate, nine guns – including two sawed-off shotguns and an assault rifle, several knives, 13,591 rounds of ammunition, $14,400 cash and almost 400 grams of drugs, including 203.2 grams of methamphetamine and 181.1 grams of powder cocaine. Three people were arrested, including one woman.
The three suspects, including Steier, Wayant Donald Chapin, 37, of Calgary and an unnamed 55-year-old Red Deer woman, are facing numerous Criminal Code and drug charges, including those for robbery, possession of stolen property and weapons offences.
Steier and Chapin, who are both in custody, are scheduled to appear in either Calgary or Red Deer provincial court on Jan. 29. The charges against the arrested woman, as well as her identity and time of first court appearance, will be released once charges against her are sworn before the courts.
The police investigation is ongoing and more charges may be laid in the coming weeks, said RCMP.
