A full-patch member of the Nanaimo Hells Angels has pleaded guilty to three counts of trafficking cocaine and one of illegally selling cannabis.
Sean Oliver Kendall, 44, appeared in Vancouver provincial court and entered the pleas. His sentencing hearing is scheduled for October.
Kendall, who lives in Port Alberni, was arrested in December, along with another Hells Angel and two associates after a major drug trafficking investigation on Vancouver Island targeting the biker gang and some of its affiliated puppet clubs.
Federal prosecutors approved 41 charges against Kendall, full-patch Hells Angels William Paulsen, former Hells Angels member Kristopher Smith, and associate William Thompson.
Kendall admitted to trafficking cocaine in Nanaimo in December 2019 and February 2020 and in Vancouver on March 5, 2020. The cannabis count related to a Nanaimo incident on Dec. 18, 2019, court records show.
At a Surrey news conference in December, the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit released details of the investigation, which began in June 2018 and resulted in the seizure of 22 firearms and over 13 kilograms of illicit drugs including cocaine, methamphetamine, black market cannabis and oxycodone.
“The Hells Angels, as everyone knows, is an international outlaw motorcycle club that has had connections to gang and organized crime activity in B.C., across Canada and internationally for decades,” unit chief officer Manny Mann said at the time.
On Wednesday, unit Sgt. Brenda Winpenny said the guilty pleas so early in the judicial proceedings are good news.
“Combating organized crime groups and their illegal activity are central to the CFSEU-BC mandate as the province’s anti-gang agency,” she said. “And securing a guilty plea in a complex drug investigation demonstrates our ability and commitment to leveraging our expertise in partnership with law enforcement across British Columbia to continue to achieve strong results for public safety.”
She said the agency is “relentless in our pursuit to hold accountable those individuals, including high-ranking members of outlaw motorcycle clubs, who threaten our communities and prey on our most vulnerable people.”
The other three accused, Thompson, Smith and Paulsen, are due back in court in Nanaimo for arraignment on June 6.
Kendall’s convictions are just the latest involving a Hells Angel as the biker gang is poised to celebrate its 40th anniversary in B.C. in July.
Vincenzo Sansalone, of the Haney chapter, pleaded guilty to trafficking earlier this year, and is scheduled to be sentenced in Vancouver Provincial Court next month.
