The B.C. civil forfeiture directors' effort to secure nearly $270,000 in allegedly ill-gotten gains from a former Prince George man and his alleged girlfriend is continuing to wind its way through court.
The lawyer representing Kirsten Sabrina Campbell-Fredin, who police have maintained is Joey Lamont Arrance's girlfriend, filed a response this week denying several allegations made in a notice of civil claim the director submitted to B.C. Supreme Court in July.
Specifically, Campbell-Fredin says she was not the girlfriend of Joey Lamont Arrance, only that he had been staying at the 4337 Foster Rd. home of her now-deceased mother, Linda Joyce Fredin, for about two months when RCMP executed a search warrant on Sept. 19, 2010.
Campbell-Fredin also says a portion of the jewelry police seized was hers or her mothers and was not gained through criminal activity. And she is claiming that both the police search of the home and the interception of private communication by Campbell-Fredin and her mother was unconstitutional.
The director is seeking a court order to secure 34 items of jewelry adding up to $245,422.40 and $24,980 in cash police had seized and alleges the two 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, who police have said had ties to organized crime, nor Campbell-Fredin had "sufficient, or any, funds, from lawful sources to account for their possession of the money and the jewelry," the director alleges.
The director's 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 Campbell-Fredin, who assured him the items remained safely stored away, the director further alleges.
Signs are posted at PGRCC stating all phone calls are recorded, the notice states.
According to the response, filed Wednesday, Campbell-Fredin is claiming no interest in the money but maintains a portion of the jewelry belongs to her or her mother.
She has identified in photographs provided by the director jewelry pieces that may belong to her or her mother but needs to see the actual jewelry to confirm whether they are family belongings, according to the response.
The response further states that Linda Fredin and her now-deceased husband, Michael Campbell, rented a safety deposit box to store valuable personal items for many years.
It also states that for about 25 years Campbell worked as a pipeline engineer and Linda Fredin was a Canada Post employee until becoming disabled by arthritis that confined her to a wheelchair.
Liinda Fredin died from injuries sustained in a November 2010 early-morning fire at the 4337 Foster Rd. home. The blaze erupted less than 24 hours after a fire gutted a tattoo parlour at the corner of Victoria Street and Seventh Avenue, allegedly owned by Arrance.
Police treated both fires as suspicious but no one has since been charged.
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, 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 and then banned from coming within 100 kilometres of Prince George for a further 18 months.
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.
