CALGARY – Police have arrested a member of the B.C.-based Red Scorpions gang in Alberta, along with three associates.
Officers made the arrests while executing search warrants last Wednesday, in a joint investigation by Red Deer RCMP, Airdrie RCMP, Calgary police and the Alberta Law Enforcement Response Team (ALERT).
RCMP say the investigation focused on the gang’s alleged drug trafficking operation and their infiltration of the Alberta market.
29-year-old Cory James Lesperance, originally from B.C., faces 14 drug and weapons charges. He was arrested at a home in the Balmoral Heights neighbourhood just outside of Red Deer, where two firearms and a large amount of drugs were also found.
Robin Joseph Stewart, 52, Nicholas David James White, 21, and Amber McLeod, 23, also face numerous charges.
A search warrant was also executed in Calgary’s Thorncliffe neighhourhood, as well as a home in Airdrie. The following items were seized as a result:
- 512 grams of methamphetamine;
- 517 grams of cocaine;
- 52 grams of heroin;
- 264 grams of marihuana
- 80 grams of psilocybin;
- 13 vials equaling 130 milliliters of anabolic steroids;
- A cocaine conversion lab;
- Scales, packaging, and other drug paraphernalia;
- Loaded semi-automatic handgun;
- Stolen shotgun with ammunition;
- 3 replica handguns;
- $8,955 cash proceeds of crime and two vehicles.
The Red Scorpions have been linked to violent crime in B.C., including an incident known as the ‘Surrey Six’ where six people were shot to death in an apartment in Surrey in 2007.
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