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The Manitoba government has filed a third lawsuit seeking more expensive items seized by Winnipeg police as part of a national investigation into cocaine trafficking.

In March, officers executed 22 search warrants in Manitoba, British Columbia and Ontario following a 10-month investigation called Project Soft Landing.

Police allege the network conspired to transport cocaine from the Toronto area to Winnipeg, where it was sold.

Law enforcement agencies used techniques such as “the use of physical and electronic devices, warrants of surrender and various warrants” during the investigation, according to court documents.

In the first lawsuit, filed in the Court of King’s Bench on Oct. 24, the civil forfeiture director seeks to seize $230,000 and a gold Rolex watch seized by city police.

Details about the investigation, which police revealed in May, are part of the first civil suit filed against Arber Imeri of Burlington, Ont., who was criminally charged, and Alissa Ramacieri, who was not charged.

On October 28, the forfeiture office filed a second lawsuit related to the case, naming Kevon Warmington, Kerry Ann Thompson and a second woman, who was not charged, as suspects.

In the second lawsuit, $255,000 is seized from Warmington’s home, as well as expensive jewelry, designer clothes and a BMW.

A new lawsuit filed on December 6 names the defendants as Tyrone Reid, the alleged leader of the network, his mother, Fiona Debbie Lewis, his sister Kayla Reid, Andy Van Le, and a man who worked in the Lewis lived in the house and was not charged.

The government is looking for expensive jewelry and $500 seized from Tyrone Reid’s Toronto home, $483,000 in cash seized from a Winnipeg home owned by Lewis, a Mercedes Benz and a few hundred cash from Kayla Reid, and just under $6,000 from Van Le’s Hamilton home.

Kayla Reid has not been criminally charged, while Lewis and Le have.

The forfeiture office files lawsuits to withhold money and other property. Police claim they are either the proceeds of crime or bought with dirty money.

During the investigation, police secretly made video and audio recordings and intercepted approximately 20,000 communications. Many were sent through encrypted messaging applications such as WhatsApp and Signal, according to court documents.

Police used phone records to track the movements of suspects in Winnipeg and across provincial borders, while financial data was used to flag transactions believed to be linked to the proceeds of crime, the records allege.

Investigators secretly entered suspects’ homes and vehicles 35 times to collect evidence, including sampling substances and containers to confirm the presence of drugs, locating hidden compartments and documenting bundles of cash, cocaine and drug packaging materials , according to court documents.

Nine of the suspects are from Winnipeg: Lewis, Thompson, Adrian Cheston, Cornelius Hibbert, Elvis Oyewole, Paige Preteau, Tovary Sharpe, Darcy Warmington and Kevon Warmington.

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Erik Pindera
Reporter

Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free presswith the main emphasis on crime and justice. The born and raised Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic and wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free press in 2020. Read more about Erik.

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