Cops net large cache of drugs and guns
[attach]6257[/attach]A major police investigation into cocaine distribution that resulted in dozens of arrests and millions of dollars worth of drugs seized all began in the East York area.
Project Domo, which was started last September by the Toronto Police’s organized crime enforcement drug squad major project section, concluded on June 26 with an organized series of 29 raids across the GTA.
Though the raids spanned York, Durham and Waterloo regions, three of them took place in local areas — including on Cosburn Avenue and Carlaw Avenue, both resulting in arrests, and another on Woodbine Avenue that did not result in an arrest.
But nearly a month and a half earlier, another smaller series of raids were carried out in connection with the investigation, targeting the Vagabonds Motorcycle Club, whose clubhouse is on Gerrard Street E. near Woodbine Avenue.
Police also targeted residences in the area, including one on Whistle Post Street near Gerrard and Main, another on Woodrow Avenue near Danforth and Coxwell, and a third on Sammon Avenue, a couple blocks north of Danforth. Five other raids around the city were also conducted.
As a result of those warrants, police seized over a kilogram of marijuana, two kilograms of powder cocaine, just under $27,000 in cash, three vehicles and a motorcycle.
On April 16, police searched a home on Plains Road near Woodbine and O’Connor and seized a large quantity of cocaine.
Despite the connection to the Vagabonds, biker gangs were not the focus of the investigation, said Det. Sgt. Karl Sobotka, one of the lead investigators with the drug squad’s major project section.
“It’s an investigation into cocaine trafficking,” he said. “We were investigating a group which led us to a different group which led us to a different group … so it wasn’t strictly a biker investigation.”
Sobotka said the overall project ended up targeting various drug dealers who didn’t know each other, but were all connected to the same individual.
As a result, nearly $4.5 million in drugs were taken off the streets, all of which he believed was headed to Toronto’s streets.
Charged on the June 26 raids were 34-year-old Mikolaj Marczak of Toronto and 41-year-old John Selby, also of Toronto.
The Vagabonds warrants saw the arrests of seven Toronto men. Joel Stevenson, 35, faces 16 charges; Shane Chaisson, 29, faces three; Victor Caster, 36, faces five; Chad Little, 27, faces three; Michael Neil Bovaconti, 36, faces two; and both Christopher Campbell, 43, and Tim Stewart, 67, face one charge each.
The April 16 raid saw 33-year-old Steven Graham of Toronto arrested and charged with possession of cocaine for the purpose of trafficking and possession of proceeds of crime.
[align=right]— With files from Sarah Taguiam
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