Judge finds more Charter breaches in Ridge Meadows RCMP’s largest drug case
A major Ridge Meadows RCMP drug investigation has suffered another setback after a BC Supreme Court judge ruled three search warrants used in the case violated an accused trafficker’s Charter rights.
Alen Kadunic faces eight counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking stemming from a months-long investigation that led to what police described as the largest fentanyl seizure in the Ridge Meadows RCMP’s history.
But on Sept. 16, Justice David Layton found warrants used to search two New Westminster residences and Kadunic’s Dodge Ram were invalid after evidence obtained through earlier unlawful police authorizations was stripped from the applications.
The decision follows earlier rulings that found Ridge Meadows RCMP relied on materially misleading information to obtain cellphone tracking warrants, triggering a series of Charter breaches as investigators used information from those warrants to obtain further judicial authorizations.
The case stems from a 2021 investigation, when the Ridge Meadows RCMP Street Enforcement Unit began targeting a suspected dial-a-dope operation. Undercover officers made a series of drug purchases, eventually focusing their investigation on a phone police believed was being used by the person running the operation.
In November 2021, police obtained warrants allowing them to collect transmission data from the phone and track its location.
But in an April ruling, Layton found those warrants breached Kadunic’s Charter right against unreasonable search and seizure.
Later that month, the judge ruled information obtained through those invalid warrants also could not be used to justify five subsequent judicial orders, including for access to records associated with two New Westminster highrises and warrants allowing police to conduct surveillance in their common areas.
Those findings had consequences later in the investigation.
On Aug. 24, the Crown conceded that once the unlawfully obtained information was removed, police lacked reasonable grounds both to arrest Kadunic on Feb. 2, 2022, and to obtain three warrants used to search his vehicle and residences at 908 Quayside Dr. and 210 Salter St.
The dispute at that point was over how far the court should go in examining the police conduct.
Kadunic’s lawyers argued the court should also determine whether police lacked reasonable grounds for the arrest and searches even before the tainted information was removed – what the court called an allegation of “additional or independent state misconduct.”
The Crown argued that issue should instead be considered later, when the court determines whether evidence obtained through the Charter breaches should ultimately be excluded.
Layton rejected that approach.
He ruled the court should first determine whether the arrest and searches would have violated Kadunic’s rights independently of the earlier Charter breaches. Doing so, he said, would establish the groundwork for assessing how serious the police conduct was when the court later considers whether evidence should be excluded under the Charter.
That set the stage for the Sept. 16 ruling on the three Feb. 1, 2022 search warrants.
Those warrants, supported by a single information-to-obtain sworn by Ridge Meadows RCMP Cpl. David Long, authorized searches of Kadunic’s Dodge Ram and units at the two New Westminster buildings.
Kadunic’ lawyers argued that once information stemming from the earlier unlawful searches was removed from the warrant application, there was not enough left to establish reasonable grounds for the searches. The Crown conceded that point, and Layton agreed.
The judge found the remaining information could not justify any of the three warrants, meaning all three were invalid and the resulting searches breached Kadunic’s Charter rights.
Layton then separately considered whether the searches would have been unlawful even without removing the tainted evidence.
For the unit at 908 Quayside Dr., he found police otherwise had sufficient grounds to believe evidence connected to the suspected drug operation would be found there. As a result, the search did not amount to additional or independent misconduct beyond the Charter breach caused by the earlier unlawful warrants.
The findings were different for the second residence and Kadunic’s truck.
Layton found police had some grounds to search the unit at 210 Salter St. for items including cash, cellphones, SIM cards and documents establishing who lived there, but not for drugs, scales, drug packaging or score sheets.
Similarly, the judge found there were grounds to search Kadunic’s Dodge Ram for cash, cellphones and SIM cards, but insufficient evidence linking the vehicle itself to activity consistent with drug trafficking to justify searching it for drugs or related paraphernalia.
Those portions of the searches therefore amounted to additional or independent state misconduct, Layton concluded.
The distinction could become important when the court decides what happens to evidence obtained during the investigation.
Under the Charter rules, courts can exclude evidence obtained through a breach if admitting it would bring the administration of justice into disrepute. The seriousness of police conduct is one factor judges consider in making that determination.
Layton’s rulings so far establish that Charter breaches occurred, but do not by themselves mean all evidence seized during the searches will be excluded.
Kadunic remains charged with eight counts of possession of a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking. The allegations against him have not been proven at trial.
