The province has moved to seize two properties on the West Shore, a pickup truck and about $45,000 in cash associated with a major drug bust involving a member of the Savages Motorcycle Club in January.
A civil forfeiture claim has been filed in B.C. Supreme Court against John Robert-Lee Riches, a member of the Savages, and two others to seize a strata property at 304-866 Goldstream Ave. and a single-family dwelling on five acres at 3074 Sooke Rd.
Kenneth Sylvan Baker, a Riches associate who owns the truck and an interest in the Sooke Road property, is listed as a defendant in the forfeiture proceedings. Taylor Church is named a defendant as an owner in the Sooke Road property.
In its claim, the director of civil forfeiture said Riches and Baker used the properties, vehicle and cash to deal illegal drugs in Victoria and surrounding municipalities while having links to the Savages Motorcycle Club, which the court documents call a criminal organization.
On Jan. 31, RCMP executed search warrants at several locations, including both West Shore properties, and seized about 55 grams of cocaine, a small quantity of heroin and pills, drug-cutting agents, scales, a money counting machine and record keeping “score sheets,” among other items. A SKS rifle, a Rohm revolver and a handgun were also seized along with ammunition, a 2014 Dodge Ram pickup and the cash, according to the court file.
“The real property, vehicle and money are proceeds and instruments of unlawful activity … which variously resulted in, or were likely to result in, the acquisition of property or an interest in property, or caused, or could have resulted in serious bodily harm,” the claim said. It cites trafficking and conspiracy to traffick controlled substances, tax evasion, illegal firearms and money laundering as some of the unlawful activities.
The court filing said that if the properties, vehicle and money are not forfeited all are likely to be used in the future for illegal activity.
The director of forfeiture listed two financial institutions as “uninvolved interest holders.” The court filing said the director of forfeiture believes that Equitable Bank and the Bank of Nova Scotia, though providing mortgages, “did not participate in or know of or have reason to know of unlawful activity.”
This month, Equitable Bank filed litigation against the Goldstream Avenue property, according to the filing
The forfeiture filing tracks the ownership of both properties.
In January 2020, Brianne Riches became a 99% registered owner and John Riches had a 1% share of the Goldstream Avenue property. Two years later, both Riches transferred their interests to John Riches for $1.
Penny Matthews and Shirley Anderson were the registered owners of the Sooke Road property in 2007. In 2022, they transferred their interest to Baker for $1, and the transaction was sold back to Matthews and Anderson for $1 a few months later. Last July, Baker and Church were the registered owners.
The defendants have 21 days to respond.
The forfeiture filing this week stems from police raids on Jan. 31 that involved 40 officers from multiple agencies in coordinated searches of the Savages clubhouse on Spencer Road in Langford, residential properties in Langford, two residences in Victoria, one in Colwood and two commercial properties in View Royal and North Saanich.
The clubhouse is not part of the latest court filing. The single storey building on a 7,400-square-foot lot near an elementary school was listed for sale two months after police vehicles smashed through the gate in the early morning hours and remains an active listing at $1.395 million.
In February, B.C.’s anti-gang task force, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said the arrests during the raid included “a full-patch member of the Savages.”
Sgt. Brenda Winpenny, media relations officer for the task force said the Savages Motorcycle Club is known to be a support club for the Hells Angels.
The raids resulted in the arrest of a 27-year-old Colwood woman and two men from Langford, ages 45 and 41, and the seizure of 450 grams of fentanyl, 150 grams of methamphetamine, 200 grams of psilocybin, a kilogram of an unknown substance, small amounts of cocaine and hundreds of various pills as well as vehicles, cash and weapons, according to a West Shore RCMP statement.
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