Light sentences for Hells Angels; judge rips RCMP

16:29 DRR

Light sentences for Hells Angels; judge rips RCMP 
VANCOUVER/CKNW AM 980.

[Cknw.com] Two full patch Hell's Angels won't be spending much time in prison on drug production and trafficking charges, in part, because of some of the tactics RCMP employed in a multi-million dollar investigation.

49 -year old Randy Potts was handed a four and a half year sentence for drug possession and trafficking charges.

For good behavior, attempts at drug and alcohol rehabilitation, church support, medical conditions- including what the judge described as a painful abcess on his buttocks, and his early guilty plea, he gets one year behind bars.

It was a similar fate for fellow Angel, 43 -year old John Punko.
He gets 14 months behind bars.
Justice Peter Leask was highly critical of the RCMP's "E-Pandora" investigation, one which targetted members of Vancouver's East End Hells's Angels chapter.

Leask says the RCMP not only fed the two men's drug and alcohol habits, but he also said the men would likely would not have committed their crimes, had it not been for the actions of undercover police.
Despite this, RCMP Inspector Gary Shinkaruk says "E-Pandora", which came with a 10 million dollar price tag, has been a success, because it's disrupted the operations of the East End chapter.
He does admit though: the investigation has seen a lot of "ups and downs".
The Crown is now appealing both sentences.