J-Tornado drug trial finds suspects guilty on all counts

Two Saint John men have been found guilty on all charges in the J-Tornadotrial, which delved into the the drug-dealing world in Saint John and New Brunswick.

Shane Williams, 34, and Joshua Kindred, 29, were found guilty Monday by Court of Queen's Bench Justice William Grant on charges of drug possession, drug trafficking and conspiracy.

The two men were jointly on trial fordrug possession, drug trafficking and conspiracy. The trial lasted 65 days.

• J-Tornado drug trial hears closing arguments by defence
• Crown closes case in J-Tornado trial after 65 days

Kindred was found guilty on five charges, including trafficking cocaine, possession of cocaine, conspiring to traffic drugs, conspiring to possess drugs for a the purpose of trafficking, and benefiting from a criminal organization.

Williams was found guilty on the same five charges plus two others:instructing others for the benefit of a criminal organization, possession of the proceeds of crime of more than $5,000.

Court will reconvene Wednesday to deal with a closing argument allegation by Williams's lawyer that his client was entrapped by police.

A sentencing date has not been set.

The two were among 28 arrested by police in September 2014 as part of OperationJ-Tornado, a three-year long investigation into drug trafficking in New Brunswick.

Police managed to put dozens of RCMP-supplied BlackBerry devices into the hands of New Brunswick drug suspects using a paid agent, a Saint John businessman whose name is protected by a publication ban.

The suspectswere led to believe the phoneswere encrypted and immune to police surveillance.

Instead,emailsfrom the phones were routed directly throughRCMPservers, with over 30,000 messages intercepted andanalysedby police.

Two phones

The Crown has established that cocaine activity in the group was largely directed by two phones, one connected to theemailaddressferrarigang@cryplock.netand one connected tohummertime@cryplock.net.

Crown prosecutors Nicole Poirier and Melanie Ferronpresented evidence in the judge alone trial over 65 non-consecutive days.

At one point the trial was so behind schedule that they were even sitting on weekends.

The defence Brian Munro,representingWilliams,34, of Smithtown, and Reid Chedore, representingKindred, 39, of Saint John called three witnesses during the trial andpresented closing arguments in mid-August.

Both lawyers told Justice Grant the Crown had not provenitscase against their clients, telling the court there is no proof the two men ever had the phones or that the agent had given the phones to them.

Mid-trial, Grant acknowledged two issues central to the case are: the overallcredibilityof the businessman-turned-police agent, and whether police gathered enough evidence to prove Williams andKindred were behind the emails sent by "ferrarigang"and "hummertime."

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