FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. – A traffic stop near Fort St. John in 2015 resulted in the seizure of over $130,000, which the B.C government wants, according to a Vancouver Sun article.
A lawsuit was filed against Raymond Morrissey, the former father-in-law of notorious Fraser Valley gangster Clayton Eheler, by the director of civil forfeiture last week. The government agency claims the $139,035 seized came from drug trafficking and should be handed over, said the news outlet.
The money would go into the civil forfeiture special account where they are used to pay for operational costs, compensation and grants.
The suit filed June 1st notes that the allegations against Morrissey stem from a Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of British Columbia (CFSEU) investigation where Eheler was targeted as the head of a drug trafficking group supplying northern B.C.
Officers found over $1,000 in his wallet and another $137,870 separated into “57 bundles held together with elastic bands” inside a vacuum-seal bag in the trunk of his Honda Accord, says the government statement.
The men Morrissey met with were pulled over as well, and police found five cellphones, a vacuum-sealed bag containing 1.8 kilograms of crack cocaine, and a second bag containing 1.6 kilograms of powdered cocaine.
The director says in the suit that Morrissey’s cash “has been used by the defendant to engage in unlawful activities,” including possession for the purpose of trafficking, possession of the proceeds of crime, and failure to declare taxable income.
In November 2014, CFSEU-BC executed a search warrant on an apartment building in Chilliwack. The suite, which Morrissey was renting, was occupied by Eheler .
The search resulted in the seizure of eight kilograms of powder cocaine and one kilogram of crack cocaine along with a large cocaine press, cutting agents, packaging materials, and documents in Morrissey’s name.
Eheler was convicted of drug trafficking in 2018 and was sentenced to nine years in prison in 2019. However, he was released last fall pending an appeal of his conviction.
Morrissey was acquitted in the same case despite the judge ruling he was “suspicious” that Morrissey knew about the cocaine found in a Chilliwack apartment he rented at the time.
The Vancouver Sun says no statement of defence has yet been filed.
