Five Grande Prairie arrest suspects return to court May 26th

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A justice's gavel on a wooden surface in front of books and scales. — A gavel. (Canva)

GRANDE PRAIRIE, B.C. — Five people arrested for alleged ties to a drug trafficking ring that reached the Peace region have hearings scheduled for next week.

The five people were arrested as part of Project Glacier, a two-year investigation led by RCMP officers in Grande Prairie that concluded in March.

The five individuals – 42-year-old Doug Wheeler of Wembley, Alberta; 38-year-old Joseph Collicutt from Grande Prairie; 31-year-old Jesse Lukac from Grande Prairie; 27-year-old Cody Yanishewski from Grande Prairie; and 31-year-old Shannon Pearse from Wembley – all now have court hearings scheduled for May 26th.

They face the following charges:

Wheeler is charged with instructing an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance, commission of an offence for a criminal organization and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
Collicutt is charged with two counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking and one count each of possession of a loaded prohibited firearm, unsafe storage of a firearm and unauthorized possession of a firearm.
Lukac is charged with conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance, commission of an offence for a criminal organization and possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.
Yanishewski is charged with commission of an offence for a criminal organization and conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance.
Pearse is charged with commission of an offence for a criminal organization, conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance and three counts of possession of drugs for the purpose of trafficking.

According to the initial press release regarding their arrests, all five people – alongside a sixth individual, 27-year-old Patrick Arcand from Sexsmith – had their initial hearings scheduled for May 6th.

However, according to a representative from Alberta Court and Justice Services, Wheeler and Lukac’s hearings on the 6th ultimately didn’t occur.

The representative also noted that a warrant is currently out for Arcand’s arrest, with no court dates scheduled.

The Project Glacier press release claimed Arcand was charged with commission of an offence for a criminal organization and conspiracy to traffic a controlled substance.