BOWDEN – Drug charges have been laid against two Bowden Institution inmates, along with one former offender, following a lengthy joint investigation by Innisfail RCMP and prison officials.
On Dec. 20, the Innisfail RCMP announced its General Investigation Section in partnership with Bowden Institution concluded a probe into an illicit drug operation at the prison that began in November.
Innisfail RCMP Staff Sgt. Chris Matechuk said the bust was a separate investigation from the Nov. 14 case that resulted in the seizure of $495,320 worth of methamphetamine and THC in the yard of the medium security unit at Bowden Institution. That probe is still continuing, said Matechuk.
Dan Spiller, the prison's acting assistant warden of management services, declined to comment on the most recent drug case at the institution.
However, in the most recent case Matechuk said the probe partnership resulted in Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) charges been laid against three males, two inmates and one on statutory release.
Matechuk said that on Nov. 5 a former Bowden Institution inmate on statutory release, released from the prison in September, was located and detained by Corrections staff after a suspicious person was observed near the fence at the prison.
Jesse Cole, a 32-year-old offender, has been charged with two counts of trafficking under the CDSA. Matechuk said further investigation resulted in two inmates also being charged.
Inmate Alan Goossens, 34, has been charged with two counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, while inmate Cory Michaels, 31, has been charged with three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.
Matechuk said he could not speak to the types of illicit drugs or the amounts involved in the recent case.
He said all three offenders have been transferred to higher security institutions and will answer to charges in Red Deer provincial court in February.
