B.C. men plead guilty in drug ring
B.C. men plead guilty in drug ring
Regional News
August 28, 2008 09:53 PM
By: Joe Fantauzzi
Two British Columbia men pleaded guilty to drug trafficking in a cross-Canada ecstasy smuggling ring broken up in Vaughan last year.
Michel Rouch, 60, of Chilliwack and Heinz Werner Goertzen, 37, both pleaded guilty to their roles in the operation Aug. 18, York Regional Police Sgt. Robert Shaw confirmed.
The men are scheduled for sentencing in April.
A Vaughan man, Michael Newman, 38, was sentenced to five years and eight months in prison after pleading guilty in April to a number of charges, including possessing a controlled substance for the purpose of trafficking, possessing an unregistered restricted weapon and crime proceeds possession.
In March 2007, police crime analyst Emily McKee spotted a trend of vehicle break-ins in parking lots along the Hwys. 400 and 7 corridor in Concord.
Laptops, cellular telephones and briefcases were being taken from the vehicles.
During a meeting with Ms McKee, a plan was developed and four undercover officers began watching the area, Sgt. Robert Shaw of the Vaughan station has said.
On March 29, officers spotted two sport utility vehicles parked back-to-back in a parking lot near Hwys. 7 and 400.
Three men were seen moving large suitcases from one SUV to another, police have said.
The officers moved in and found ecstasy tablets in one of the suitcases.
Later, as a result of a drug search warrant, police also found more than 720,000 ecstasy tablets, worth about $7 million on the street, 49 kilograms of cocaine worth $1.5 million and more than $219,000 in cash.
A raid at a Vaughan home yielded $95,000 more in cocaine and ecstasy, a Taser, two handguns and police-style raid jackets, police said.