BN- John Virgil Punko, 43, pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to produce and traffic methamphetamine, trafficking drugs and possessing...
BN- John Virgil Punko, 43, pleaded guilty last month to conspiring to produce and traffic methamphetamine, trafficking drugs and possessing cash that was the proceeds of crime.Prosecutor Martha Devlin told the court that Punko should be given 30 months credit for time served in pre-trial custody, which would reduce the Crown requested sentence to slightly more than 13 years.The sentencing hearing before B.C. Supreme Court Justice Peter Leask is set for all this week.
Co-accused Randy Potts, who is also a member of the East End chapter of the Hells Angels, is set to be sentenced next week.The charges against the bikers stem from a $10-million police investigation that targetted the East End Hells Angels, which ended in 2005 with the arrest of more than six Hells Angels in B.C. and a dozen alleged associates.The police investigation utlilized a police agent, Michael Plant, who was promised $1 million to infiltrate the biker club, wear a secret listening device and gather evidence.Punko was earlier convicted of threatening a prosecutor in another Hells Angels case.Last summer, a jury convicted Punko, Potts and two other Hells Angels members of weapons ofences and extortion.In that case, Punko was convicted of the unauthorized possession of a loaded semi-automatic pistol and sentenced to 15 months in jail, plus a consecutive sentence of four years for counselling a police agent to do damage to a Surrey home where Punko was trying to collect a large amount of money from a man.It was effectively a sentence of time served but Punko was recently denied bail by Leask before sentencing.Potts, who is free on bail before sentencing, is attending Punko's sentencing.
