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Drugs, firearms charges approved against four arrested this week

Crown counsel has approved charges against four people arrested earlier this week - including one previously implicated in an alleged kidnapping - as a result of an RCMP drug-related investigation.
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Crown counsel has approved charges against four people arrested earlier this week - including one previously implicated in an alleged kidnapping - as a result of an RCMP drug-related investigation.

Mitchell Allen Crosby, 26, faces 14 charges, including three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and 10 firearms-related charges.

Meranda Leigh Dingwall, 23, faces three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and two counts of breach of an undertaking or recognizance.

Craig Anthony Niedermayer, 40, faces eight charges, including three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking and five firearms charges.

Kelly Michael Richet, 31, faces three counts of possession for the purpose of trafficking.

Prince George RCMP's street crew unit arrested the four late Wednesday night and the next day search warrants were executed on a 900-block Ahbau Street home and a storage facility in the city.

Three ounces of cocaine, and five ounces of heroin, as well as a handgun with ammunition and a shotgun and about $20,000 cash were seized, RCMP have said.

Niedermayer was one of the four men who were accused of drug-related kidnapping, confinement and assault that saw a bloodied and frightened man who burst into the Ferndale Community Hall after escaping from a nearby home in April 2012.

They were eventually acquitted after the judge hearing the original trial died and the alleged victim refused to testify in the second trial.

Dingwall was out on bail facing charges from the seizure of a loaded semi-automatic SKS rifle, two live pipe bombs and bomb building materials were seized from an 1100-block Ahbau Street home in November.

The block had been cordoned off for about 2 1/2 hours with neighbours asked to vacate their homes, as an emergency response team and an explosive disposal unit were called in to clear the home on that matter.

Richet's record includes being sentenced to 15 months in jail and three years probation in 2008 for leading police in a chase along the Hart Highway and logging roads in a stolen pickup truck.

Crosby has an extensive criminal record for offences committed in the Okanagan. In September 2012 he was sentenced to 38 1/2 months in jail for aggravated assault, committed in Kelowna.

All four remained in custody as of Friday.