A man who was charged along with Jonathan Bacon in relation to a 2005 drug transaction in Abbotsford has pleaded guilty to one of the offences.
Godwin Cheng, 38, was set to go on trial on Monday in Surrey provincial court on three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking, but is now scheduled for a sentencing hearing on Nov. 13 on one of the charges.
Cheng was arrested in August 2005 after police began an investigation into Bacon – killed in a gang-related drive-by shooting in Kelowna in August 2011 – and his girlfriend Rayleene Burton.
The couple shared a home on Winfield Drive in Abbotsford. According to court documents, police observed 15 transactions over a one-week period involving the transfer of packages between vehicles at and from their townhouse.
Police believed the transfers were drug-related.
On Aug. 4, 2005, investigators witnessed Bacon and Cheng transferring packages between vehicles and driving to a meeting point.
The two were then arrested, and among the items allegedly found in Cheng’s vehicle were marijuana, meth and ecstasy pills, cocaine, $2,600 cash and cellphones.
Shortly after that arrest, Burton was stopped in her car and police seized $88,000, according to court documents.
A subsequent search of the Winfield Drive home turned up marijuana, cash, four firearms, a bulletproof vest and a police uniform.
All three were charged with numerous offences, but the charges were dismissed by an Abbotsford provincial court judge in June 2008. The judge ruled that the searches of the vehicles and townhouse were not properly conducted and breached the trio’s charter rights.
However, the federal Crown filed an appeal, and the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a new trial.
That decision was then challenged by the trio through the Supreme Court of Canada — the nation’s highest court and the last judicial resort.
The Supreme Court dismissed the appeal in February 2011 and ordered that the trial proceed. It had not yet begun when Bacon was killed.
Charges against Burton were stayed.
Bacon, 30 at the time of his death, was the eldest of three Abbotsford brothers connected to the notorious Red Scorpions gang. Middle brother Jarrod was convicted earlier this year of conspiracy to traffic cocaine and is now serving a 12-year sentence.
Youngest brother Jamie is currently serving a three-year eight-month sentence on weapons offences and is awaiting trial for first-degree murder in the Surrey Six case.
