Mike McIntyre (Winnipeg Free Press) – A former Manitoba RCMP officer has admitted trafficking weapons on behalf of the Hells Angels, claiming he was desperate for money to pay for his young son’s birthday party.
After pleading guilty, Wayne Shuttleworth, 40, was sentenced yesterday to the mandatory minimum sentence of three years in prison under a joint-recommendation from Crown and defence lawyers. He was also given an additional year behind bars on the charge of participating in a criminal organization.
Shuttleworth was one of 31 people arrested last December through Project DIVIDE, a year long undercover sting operation in which police used a trusted gang associate to act as a secret agent. Michael Satsatin captured dozens of illicit deals on audio and video surveillance, including a series of November 2009 meetings with Shuttleworth.
Shuttleworth had various conversations with Satsatin in which he discussed having a connection on the Sandy Bay Indian Reserve that would allow him to purchase firearms. Satsatin eventually paid Shuttleworth $500 in exchange for a sawed-off semi-automatic shotgun.
Defence lawyer Mark Wasyliw told court his client was struggling financially after leaving the RCMP because of post-traumatic stress disorder and was unable to hold down other employment because of his mental state, combined with other physical injuries.
Shuttleworth was a single man who had joint-custody of his 8-year-old son and desperately needed some extra cash to spend on the boy’s birthday party, said the defence lawyer. Along came Satsatin with an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“It was one of the worst decisions of his life,” he said.
Shuttleworth was an RCMP officer between 1991 and 1994 but quickly burned out and turned in his badge.
After 3 or 4 years in the RCMP and 15 years after he left, he is embroiled in a criminal conspiracy. Would appear to not have been suitable for the police occupation. Good thing he left the police fold. I do not read that he was part of any criminal activity in the interim.
Hot debate. What do you think?
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Hells Angels; scary stuff, so how many other cases are there like this? No wonder some of these guys are getting off lately with the help they have recruited for within.
How many have turned their backs and are refusing to enforce the law and have gone to breaking the laws of this country for their own personal gains and are helping organized crime leaders get away with their crimes as they poison people?
Can there be right now officers in departments working against the law to make sure some of these guys get off?
This all sounds pretty fishy to me.
Guns for a birthday party?
Could he not have turned to driving a school bus for a few hours a day or gone to work at McDonalds for the extra cash to pay for his son’s birthday party, but that would not be his first choice I guess.
What next?
Hot debate. What do you think?
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