Five people have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from seven to 17 years stemming from a 2017 investigation by Delta police into a dial-a-dope operation.
On Wednesday (April 6), the Delta Police Department announced the most recent sentencing in relation to Project Green Planet was sentenced last week, five years after the investigation began.
Project Green Planet was launched by the DPD’s drug section in March 2017 after police were alerted to a dial-a-dope line of the same name based in Richmond that was supplying South Delta and Vancouver.
Delta police began the investigation with street-level drug purchases and officers gradually identified the line managers and suppliers to be Red Scorpion gang members and associates.
In the fall of 2017, police executed search warrants at various locations in Richmond and Burnaby where drug suppliers and line managers were located. Police seized between $50,000 and $100,000 worth of street-level drugs — including fentanyl, carfentanyl, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamine — as well as two semi-automatic rifles, two pistols, two bullet proof vests, an axe/machete, various masks and disguises, and other items “suitable to conduct violent acts,” according to a 2018 press release by the Delta Police Department.
Additionally, police seized proceeds of crime including $52,000 in cash, $30,000 in jewelry and four luxury vehicles.
Delta police also seized the master phone that controlled the dial-dope operations for South Delta and Richmond. According to the press release, the phone number was well distributed among customers and forwarded to multiple street-level dealers, so the removal of the master phone shut down the line.
In August of 2018, police announced seven people were facing a total of 94 charges stemming from the investigation.
READ MORE: Delta police secure 94 charges in dial-a-dope bust (Aug. 14, 2018)
On March 29 of this year, Red Scorpion associate Billie Onare Kim of Burnaby, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after being found guilty of multiple charges under the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act.
Previously convicted and sentenced was Red Scorpion member Kyle Steven Latimer of Vancouver. Latimer is to serve a 17-year custodial sentence based on evidence from Project Green Planet and a related Vancouver Police Department investigation, Project Territory.
READ MORE: Major Lower Mainland drug bust nets charges against 34 alleged gangsters (Aug. 10, 2018)
Others convicted and sentenced relating to Project Green Planet include Red Scorpion members Khaadim Kwame Coddett (seven and a half years), Jacob Angelo Pereira (nine years) and Anduele Jonathon Pikeintio (seven years). All three are from Richmond.
“The results of this project and subsequent sentencing highlight the co-ordinated approach of law enforcement and the prosecution in holding the accused accountable for their activities that are contributing to numerous overdoses and deaths during the opioid crisis,” Insp. Heath Newton of the DPD’s investigative services section said in a press release.
Two other individuals were previously announced as facing charges relating to Project Green Planet: James Albert Souliere and Darryl Rick Whitson. The two Richmond men were set to face a total of 14 charges of trafficking in a controlled substance between them.
Verdicts in Souliere and Whitson’s cases have yet to be rendered.
editor@northdeltareporter.com
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