Red Deer RCMP have been granted their civil forfeiture application to seize a house worth $300,000 and about $14,000 cash as proceeds of crime, coming out of a 2015 Priority Crimes Task Force search warrant that netted 10,000 prescription pills and saw a Red Deer man charged with drug trafficking. 

58 year old Allie Gader was charged at the time with numerous counts of drug trafficking and one count of possession of stolen property; he now faces additional charges for:·        

  • Criminal Code 462.31(2) – Laundering the proceeds of crime·        
  • Criminal Code 380(1)(a) – Fraud·        
  • Criminal Code 355.2 – Trafficking in stolen property over $5,000         
  • Criminal Code 355(a) – Possession of stolen property over $5,000

Gader is scheduled to appear in court in Red Deer on November 22, 2017 at 9:30 am. 

At the time of the initial search warrant and arrest in June 2015, RCMP seized more than 10,000 prescription pills and over $15,000 cash.

The new charges are the result of a detailed investigation into money laundering led by the Red Deer RCMP Fraud Unit’s financial crimes investigator and supported by FINTRAC, Canada’s national financial intelligence unit; the investigation involved detailed review of numerous documents that led to the money laundering charges. 

The house, located at 37 Wells Street, and the cash have now been restrained under the laws of the Civil Asset Forfeiture Program.

The outcome of the RCMP’s application to seize the house and the cash will be determined at a property disposal hearing scheduled for September 18, which will be overseen by Alberta Justice in a civil litigation process. 

“This was an extremely detail-oriented investigation, tracing the movement of numerous sums of money from various sources over the course of almost two years,” says Constable William Lewadniak, Red Deer RCMP financial crimes investigator. “Red Deer RCMP’s goal in using the Civil Asset Forfeiture Program is to take the profit out of crime, cripple the financial core of organized crime, and make it more difficult for criminals to continue to break the law.” 

In Alberta, proceeds seized under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Program are prevented from being sold until the courts make a final ruling about whether it should be returned or disposed of. If the court finds that the property was obtained by crime or used to commit crime, then the court can direct the proceeds to compensate victims, reimburse expenses and/or be forfeited to the Civil Forfeiture Fund.

For more information about the Civil Forfeiture Act and the Victims Restitution Act please see https://justice.alberta.ca/programs_services/safe/Pages/civil_forfeiture.aspx. FINTRAC (Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada) is Canada's financial intelligence unit. Its mandate is to facilitate the detection, prevention and deterrence of money laundering and the financing of terrorist activities, while ensuring the protection of personal information under its control.


 

BACKGROUND ORIGINAL RCMP RELEASE: June 25, 2015     

Priority Crimes Task Force seizes 10,000 pills during search warrant Red Deer members of the Priority Crimes Task Force arrested a Red Deer man on June 17 and seized more than 10,000 prescription pills and over $15,000 cash during a search warrant executed at his Red Deer home the same day. 

The task force opened a drug trafficking investigation in early June after receiving intelligence from the community about suspicious activity at the residence.

Red Deer GIS members arrested the suspect during a traffic stop in the parking lot of the Port O’Call Mall in downtown Red Deer at approximately noon on June 17; the search warrant was executed simultaneously on a residence on Wells Street, the garage and two vehicles associated with the suspect. 

56 year old Allie Gader of Red Deer faces the following charges:·        

  • CDSA 5(2) – Possession for the purpose of trafficking X 4·        
  • Criminal Code 354(1) – Possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000 

Gader made his first appearance in court on June 18, 2015; he will appear in court again for election and plea at 9:30 am today, June 25, 2015 at Alberta Provincial Court in Red Deer. 

Anyone with information that will assist RCMP with this investigation or any other drug trafficking activity in the region is asked to call Red Deer RCMP at 403-343-5575. If you wish to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1.800.222.8477 or report it online at www.tipsubmit.com. The regional Priority Crimes Task Force is made up of police officers from Red Deer RCMP General Investigative Section (GIS), Sylvan Lake, Innisfail and Blackfalds RCMP detachments and is supported by Lacombe Police Service. The task force is committed to increased inter-agency communication, shared criminal intelligence and a strategic focus on prolific offenders, in keeping with the K Division emphasis on crime reduction strategies.