A diamond ring police seized from a Prince George home as part of an investigation into a major drug-trafficking operation has been deemed a proceed of crime.
B.C.'s civil forfeiture office secured a court order July 6 to take possession of the item, seized in February 2021 from 6695 Westmount Cres. in southwest Prince George when members of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit executed a series of search warrants on locations in and around the city.
Police have valued the ring at more than $100,000.
One of the home's occupants, Garth Clarence Goodkey, has since pleaded guilty to one count each of trafficking in a controlled substance and trafficking in a firearm, according to court records. Derek Charles MacNicol Timmins and Daniel David Wilson continue to face charges.
The Civil Forfeiture Office also has its eyes on four properties - 12855 Eaglenest Cres. in the Hart, 18795 Cariboo Hwy. in Buckhorn-Red Rock and 51035 and 51055 Cluculz Place at Cluculz Lake - according to a notice of claim filed a year ago.
The CFSEU also executed search warrants at 1590 Fir St. and 7805 Latrobe Cres.
According to the claim, grow operations adding up to more than 900 plants were uncovered, as well as 168 kilograms of processed cannabis along with $45,570 in cash, 28 grams of psilocybin, 11 grams of MDMA, some 150 pills of the anabolic steroid oxandrolone, 64 tablets of LSD and 384 tablets of tadalafil, used to treat erectile dysfunction. Quantities of yohimbrine, also used to treat erectile dysfunction, the weight loss pill sibutramine and caffeine pills were also seized as was an assortment of allegedly drug-related paraphernalia.
As well, a handgun was seized from the Fir Street property and a total of 21 rifles and six shotguns along with assorted types of ammunition were seized from the Cariboo Highway property, according to the claim.
The notice of claim was filed five days after CFSEU issued a press release saying four men and one woman had been arrested in connection with the execution of seven search warrants in February 2021. Charges against Goodkey, Timmins and Wilson were approved in December 2022.
Proceeds from the sale of items deemed proceeds of crime go towards various crime reduction initiatives. In May, 11 projects based in Prince George received a total of $483,203 generated through the province's civil forfeiture grant program.
