Province won’t seize Trent Milan’s Oakbank home

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This article was published 18/01/2017 (3198 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Manitoba justice officials have elected not to go after the property of a former Winnipeg police officer whose death brought an abrupt end to the criminal proceedings against him.

Trent Milan, 42, was killed after he drove into the path of gravel truck last October, just weeks after the 18-year veteran was charged with 36 offences following a lengthy internal investigation. All charges have now been stayed, seemingly ending the matter.

However, the province would have the ability under its Criminal Property Forfeiture Act to initiate civil proceedings against Milan’s estate. This would include his Oakbank-area home that was the subject of a raid.

Court documents obtained this week by the Free Press show the allegations against Milan involved claims he was using his home to store stolen drugs, weapons and property over several years. Police seized numerous items from the residence including cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, oxycodone, marijuana, ammunition, three knives, bear spray, brass knuckles and an eight ball, which can be contained in a sock and swung as a weapon.

Under the Act, a case can be made even in the absence of a criminal conviction. The province would have the onus to prove that the property in question is “believed to be the proceeds or instruments of unlawful activity.” It’s actually a lower standard of proof than required in a criminal trial.

But for reasons that aren’t clear, such a path is not being pursued.

“There is nothing related to this matter,” a justice spokeswoman said Wednesday following inquiries from the Free Press. “They don’t have a file and are not involved in any proceedings on this.” She couldn’t provide further details on why the decision was made.

More than $14 million in property has been seized under the Act since 2008, when the province established a special unit to seize and sell the proceeds of crime. Proceeds from the sale of forfeited property are placed in a fund to compensate victims of crime and pay for programs that reduce crime.

Last year, more than $1.8 million in proceeds was given by the province to buy night-vision goggles and bullet-proof vests for police dogs and to help establish Candace House, a resource for victims of serious crime. In 2015, $672,000 from the fund went toward police projects such as a road safety video, thermal imaging cameras, updated body armour for 15 officers and five police dogs from its emergency response unit, and community projects in Cross Lake and Selkirk.

The government says most of the proceeds seized under the law come from the drug trade and organized crime. And there are several precedents of homes being taken over – albeit in cases where convictions were first procured.

Provincial officials sold the former Hells Angels clubhouse on Scotia Street in 2015, five years after they seized it under the Act during a targeted project in which numerous bikers and associates were convicted. The riverbank property in north Winnipeg was purchased by a private buyer for $248,000 following a lengthy legal battle.

“The clubhouse serves as a symbol to rival criminal organizations of their presence and domination over unlawful activity in the area,” Det.-Sgt. Ken Downs wrote in an affidavit filed in support of the forfeiture. “It provides a base of operations, a place to make social ties and recruit new members, is a safe area to conspire about the commission of unlawful acts… and allows the Hells Angels to commit unlawful activities in secrecy.”

Last year, former Hells Angels president Ernie Dew lost his fight to keep his house out of the hands of the province. The Manitoba Court of Appeal ruled there was sufficient evidence to conclude an evidentiary link between Dew’s residence and his criminal transgressions. So the government got to keep the net mortgage sale proceeds, believed to be more than $100,000.

“His home was a shrine to the Hells Angels. He was found to be a Tier 1 drug dealer. He engaged in an unlawful common design to traffic in cocaine. He provided incidental assistance to a police agent to traffic drugs. He engaged in trafficking a vile and serious drug. He demonstrated a lack of ‘clean hands,’” the court wrote in its decision.

Dew was convicted of cocaine trafficking and possession of goods obtained by crime stemming from a 2006 arrest. Dew was acquitted of another drug offence that involved his home at 189 Cessna Way in St. Andrews. The legal dispute focused on that.

As the Free Press first reported Wednesday, Winnipeg police took down Milan using an elaborate undercover sting operation – dubbed an “integrity test” – that confirmed suspicions he was at the centre of years of criminal activity.

The Free Press successfully fought for access to court documents filed last fall as part of the probe against Milan. A 43-page information to obtain a search warrant (ITO) has been redacted in parts by justice officials to protect the identities of key sources of information against Milan. That includes two fellow Winnipeg police officers who brought their concerns about Milan to light and a confidential informant Milan had worked with during his career.

Milan’s criminal charges included breach of trust, attempting to obstruct justice, theft, drug and weapons possession. They were for offences that dated back as far as 2010. Milan was allegedly selling drugs and property he’d obtained through his police work and then pocketing the majority of the proceeds.

His death is believed to be a suicide but can’t officially be ruled that as there was apparently no note or explicit intention stated. The fact it will go down as an “accidental” death means his family would still be able to collect life insurance.

mike.mcintyre@freepress.mb.ca