The province is seeking more than $270,000 in allegedly ill-gotten gains from a former Prince George man police say has ties to organized crime.
The civil forfeiture director has filed a notice of civil claim against Joey Lamont Arrance, 33, and his girlfriend Kirsten Sabrina Campbell Fredin, 26, and the estate of her now-deceased mother, Linda Joyce Fredin, in BC Supreme Court.
The notice includes a list of 34 items of jewelry adding up to $245,422.40 in estimated retail value. The most expensive is a 10-karat, 174.3-gram man's diamond pendant worth $42,610.40.
The director is also seeking $24,980 in cash and alleges Arrance and Kirsten Fredin derived their income solely from trafficking in narcotics and that Linda Fredin held a portion of jewelry in a safety deposit box to prevent its seizure by the RCMP.
Neither Arrance nor Kirsten Fredin had "sufficient, or any, funds, from lawful sources to account for their possession of the money and the jewelry," the director alleges.
The notice also states Arrance made 671 phone calls from the Prince George Regional Correction Centre during the time he had been in custody there, primarily to ensure his drug trafficking organization continued without disruption and its revenues were being deposited and to arrange for a third party to take ownership of the firearm for which he was facing charges.
He also discussed over the phone the possibility of melting down some of the jewelry to make a larger piece for Kirsten Fredin, who assured him the items remained safely stored away. Signs are posted at PGRCC stating all phone calls are recorded, the notice states.
RCMP used search warrants to uncover the jewelry from several locations, including a safety deposit box in Linda Fredin's name.
Arrance was at the centre of a series of events that began on September 2010 with seizure of the $24,980 in cash, a loaded 10 mm Glock handgun, a loaded spare magazine, an inert pineapple-style grenade and a body armour vest from a home at 4337 Foster Rd.
In late November 2010, a tattoo parlor Arrance owned at the corner of Victoria Street and Seventh Avenue was gutted in an early morning blaze and less than 24 hours later, a fire erupted at the Foster Road home where the weapons were seized.
The wheelchair-bound Linda Joyce Fredin, 56, later died from injuries sustained in the incident.
Police treated both fires as suspicious but no one has since been charged.
Arrance, who had remained in custody since his arrest in September 2010, eventually pleaded guilty to possession of a prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition and breach of an undertaking
or recognizance.
In May, he was sentenced to a further three-and-a-half months in jail - he is currently in custody at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge - and is then banned from coming within 100 kilometres of Prince George.
Arrance also faced a charge of sexually assaulting a woman at the Renegades clubhouse in July 2010.
In November 2011, he was found not guilty of the offence following a trial before a
provincial court judge.
Police have identified Arrance as a junior member or "striker" with the Renegades Motorcycle Club, an affiliate of the Hells Angels and Game Tight Soldiers organized crime groups.
Arrance and Fredin, meanwhile, have applied for return of the items and the matter is scheduled for an Aug. 20 consideration in court.
Proceeds of forfeited property are used to compensate victims and support local crime prevention efforts.
Joey Arrance's bling box
The list of jewelry in a notice of civil claim brought against Arrance by the BC Director of Civl Forfeiture:
Man's yellow gold diamond pendant (10 karats, 174.3 grams) $42,610.40
Man's Brietling watch (342.3 grams) $37,916.00
Man's yellow gold chain (12 karat, 416 grams) $30,284.80
Man's white gold diamond ring (14 karats, 58.3 grams) $26,073.60
Man's white gold diamond ring (18 karats, 35 grams) $22,797.60
Yellow and white gold diamond cross pendant (52.3 grams) $15,444.80
Man's yellow gold diamond ring (12 karats, 107.9 grams) $12,331.20
Woman's white gold ring (14 karats, 4.68 grams) $11,771.20
Man's yellow gold bracelet (10 karats, 58.5 grams) $4,911.20
Man's yellow and white gold diamond ring (14 karats, 8.06 grams) $3,830.40
Woman's yellow gold tanzanite and diamond ring (14 karats, 9.27 grams) $3,752.00
Man's yellow gold demon garnet ring (10 karats, 49.5 grams) $3,472.00
Yellow curb link chain (10 karats, 44.3 grams) $3,225.60
Man's white and yellow gold diamond ring (14 karats, 9.17 grams) $2,430.40
Woman's yellow gold diamond ring (14 karats, 3.52 grams) $2,430.40
White gold, tazanite and diamond pendant (18 karats, 5.37 grams) $2,010.40
Pair yellow gold, diamond earrings (14 karats, 4.54 grams) $1,708.00
Man's yellow gold bracelet (10 karats, 20.8 grams) $1,635.20
Woman's yellow gold, tanzanite and diamond ring (14 karats, 4.35 grams) $1,620.00
Pair white gold diamond earrings (14 karats, 6.42 grams) $1,500.80
Man's yellow gold bracelet (10 karats, 15.3 grams) $1,288.80
Woman's white gold, tanzanite and diamond ring (14 karats, 2.44 grams) $1,209.60
Man's yellow gold signet ring (10 karats, 8.59 grams) $862.40
Man's yellow gold garnet ring (10 karats, 7.47 grams) $761.60
Variety of 10 karat scrap (33.8 grams) $700.00
Pair yellow gold tanzantie earrings (14 karats, 2.21 grams) $683.20
Pair yellow gold Native earrings (12 karats, 1.68 grams) $588.00
Woman's white gold diamond ring (10 karats, 1.95 grams) $558.00
Man's 10 karat yellow and 14 karat white gold diamond ring (3.15 grams) $476.00
Yellow gold wedding band (10 karat, 5.5 grams) $476.00
Woman's yellow gold ring (10 karats, 3.88 grams) $464.80
Yellow gold engraved wedding band (10 karats, 3.7 grams) $319.20
Yellow gold wdding band (10 karats, 2.2 grams) $235.20
Variety of 14 karat scrap $110
Total: $245,422.40
All are approximate retail values as of Aug. 19, 2011.
