After being caught in a reverse RCMP sting operation four years ago, Kevin Van Kalkeren of Osoyoos has spent the past four years behind bars. He was sentenced last Friday to a 16-year jail sentence, leaving him with more than 10 years to serve after he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to import more than 500 kilograms of cocaine into Canada. (File photo)
An Osoyoos man identified as a Hells Angel associate member who played a central role in a massive cocaine trafficking case has been handed a 16-year pentitentiary sentence.
After pleading guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine, Crown counsel and Van Kalkeren’s defence lawyer made a joint submission for an 18-year sentence, but that was reduced last Friday when Justice Carol Ross made the rare decision to not accept the joint submission concluding Van Kalkeren had endured “particularly harsh” conditions in pre-trial custody.
Van Kalkeren was one of eight men arrested following a reverse sting RCMP operation.
The veteran judge, according to numerous media reports, cited the conditions Van Kalkeren had been forced to live under following his arrest in 2012 were unduly harsh while being confined at the North Fraser Pretrial Centre.
Ross said the lengthy duration of Van Kalkeren’s pre-trial custody, his social isolation, lack of access to exercise facilities and lack of privay amounted to very harsh conditions. She also noted that Van Kalkeren suffered from depression at the time of of his arrest and his symptoms had become worse over time.
“In my view, particularly in light of the circumstances of Mr. Van Kalkeren’s custody in remand, 18 years is not a fit sentence,” she said last Friday in court. “I have concluded Mr. Van Kalkeren, that a fit sentence in all the circumstances is 16 years.
Van Kalkeren, a father of two, pleaded guilty back in January, to one count of conspiracy to import cocaine.
The judge found that Van Kalkeren played a key role when he met undercover police officers posting as members of a South American drug cartel.
After a series of meetings with undercover police officers in Mexico and Panama City, a reverse sting operation to sell $14.8 million of high-grade cocaine was arranged.
According to an agreed statement of facts revealed in court, Van Kalkeren provided approximately $4 million of his own money as a down payment to import more than 500 kilograms of cocaine into Canada.
“Mr. Van Kalkeren occupied a central role … he worked with the undercover officers and initiated negotiations,” said Judge Ross. “He played a leading role in the negotiations that followed. He was a decision maker with respect to all of the terms of the agreement.”
After receiving credit for pre-sentence custody, Van Kalkeren has more than 10 years of prison time remaining to serve. He will be eligible to apply for day parole after about three years and full parole after about 42 months in custody.
The Crown had argued that the circumstances of the case called for the judge to order Van Kalkeren to serve half of his sentence before being eligible to apply for parole, but Ross did not agree to that provision.
Two of Van Kalkeren’s co-accused, Murray Trekofski and Orhan Saydam, have also entered guilty pleas to import cocaine. Trekofski, who was not one of the chief conspirators, received a sentence of eight years following a Crown appeal, while Saydam was sentenced to three years behind bars.
Final submissions by Crown and defence lawyers in the trial of the five remaining accused – David Giles, vice-president of the Kelowna chapter of the Hells Angels, Hells Angel Brian Oldham and associates Michael Read, James Howard and Shawn Womacks – remain on trial before Ross.
That trial was adjourned until Monday so Ross could preside over Van Kalkeren’s sentencing hearing on Friday.
It was revealed in court that Van Kalkeren bragged that he had been involved in the drug trade for 18 years, producing 300 to 500 pounds of marijuana each month and then trading marijuana in Los Angeles straight up for cocaine.
Crown prosecutor Chris Greenwood said Van Kalkeren chose to live the life he has in the drug trade and his punishment must be severe considering how much cocaine he was prepared to bring in to Canada.
“This is a man who had choices,” said Greenwood. “If you look a the facts of this case, Mr. Van Kalkeren had a piece of property with a swimming pool and a house. He also had $4 million in cash and despite all of that, he was committed … to bringing in hundreds and hundreds of kilos of cocaine for his own personal profit.”
Van Kalkeren’s defence lawyer Ian Donaldson had asked his client be given extra credit for the 45 months he has spent in pre-trial custody, noting he spent almost all of that time in isolation with no interaction with other inmates and he was allowed out of his cell for less than four hours per day.
Van Kalkeren repeatedly complained about the conditions in jail, but was told that jail officials believed Giles was a threat to his former co-accused.
He said Van Kalkeren’s comments to police bragging about his history in the drug trade was simply bluster.
“He has worked on the farm since he was 14 years of age,” he said.
KEITH LACEY
Osoyoos Times
