Four men have been charged with conspiracy to commit murder for a plot in which two people were executed by mistake last May in their rural Cranbrook rental home.
The suspects are Lonnie James Adams, 33; Colin Raymond Correia, 33; Lorne William Carry, 28, and Chad Everett Munroe, 33, who police say are Cranbrook drug traffickers.
Each faces one count of conspiracy to commit murder; conspiracy to commit aggravated assault, and counselling to commit the offences of aggravated assault and murder.
The charges relate to a plot to kill Doug Mahon, a 39-year-old from a rival drug gang who once rented the house where LeaAnne MacFarlane, 43, and Jeff Taylor, 42, were gunned down May 29.
Sgt. Shinder Kirk of the Gang Task Force said Wednesday that the suspects “are no strangers to police” and were arrested without incident last week. They have been remanded in custody.
“We want to emphasize that this investigation is not over and additional arrests are expected,” Kirk said.
MacFarlane and Taylor were successful business owners who planned to open a cellphone store in Cranbrook. They had recently moved from Salmon Arm, where they had operated their first store.
“Although police will not speculate on the motive for this murder, we do confirm that the intended target of the earlier murder conspiracy had previously occupied the home. This murder remains unsolved, and is currently under investigation by Kelowna major crime investigators,” Kirk said.
The new Kelowna branch of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit led the probe of the conspiracy, which Kirk said involved a feud between two rival drug gangs with links to Metro Vancouver biker groups.
He wouldn’t say which biker gang police suspect is linked, but one of the accused, Munroe, was once convicted along with full-patch Mission Hells Angels Jason Arkinstall of causing a disturbance at Big White on New Year’s 1999.
More recently, Arkinstall successfully challenged the constitutionality of Surrey’s bylaw allowing electrical inspectors to go into homes without warrants to search for marijuana growing operations.
Kirk said the Cranbrook drug gang conflict started just over a year ago when RCMP were called after a shooting in front of the Sam Steele Hotel on Oct. 29, 2009. One man was injured.
Mahon and two other men were charged at the time. Their case remains before the courts.
“The shooting has led to ongoing tensions between two rival drug factions resulting in a heightened threat to public safety,” Kirk said.
He said investigators later learned of the murder conspiracy and intervened. Police also seized an assault rifle and two other firearms during the probe.
All four suspects arrested are known drug traffickers, as is the target of the murder plot, he said.
“These arrests and the seizure of several weapons will go a long way to reduce the threat to the public and police officers alike,” Kirk said.
“The potential for violence in this investigation was significant, violence that could have erupted at any time in any number of areas frequented by the public.”
kbolan@vancouversun.com
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