Released from custody when he was initially charged in late 2016, an alleged biker gang member was taken from a St. John’s courtroom to jail Monday morning, and won’t see the outside again for up to two years.
Judge David Orr found Joseph McIntyre, 42, guilty of drug trafficking in connection with an incident involving two other alleged Vikings Motorcycle Club members in March 2016. One of the bikers was a police informant and was wearing a hidden recording device at the time.
When asked by Orr if he had anything to say, McIntyre told the court he didn’t want to be away from his children.
Orr sentenced McIntyre to two years less a day at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary, similar to what defence lawyer Jeff Slade had suggested. Crown prosecutor Trevor Bridger had argued for a three-year jail term.
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Alleged biker gang member testified at own trial
McIntyre had been driving a vehicle with the two other bikers in the backseat March 21, 2016, headed toward a residence on Salmonier Line. During his trial, McIntyre told the court he thought the trio was going to meet a man to have another look at a second-hand, broken-down Harley Davidson he was selling, and didn’t know the men in the backseat had arranged a drug deal.
Though the informant’s recording device picked up a conversation about heroin involving all three men — and a conversation amongst the two in the backseat that indicated they had the drugs and were weighing them in the car — McIntyre testified he knew nothing of what they were talking about.
McIntyre said he wasn’t a full member of the Vikings, but a “hanger-on,” working for the club as a bartender.
“What was your understanding of what (the Vikings) did?” Bridger asked McIntyre at one point in the trial.
“It was my understanding they are affiliated with the Hells Angels,” McIntyre replied.
McIntyre was arrested in September 2016 along with James Curran; Vince Leonard; Leonard’s sons, Vincent Leonard Jr. and Shane Leonard; Wayne Johnson; Thomas Snow; Allister Hayley; Kenneth Kerrivan and Dr. Brendan Hollohan. The men were charged after police executed search warrants at six locations in Cupids and St. John’s as part of Operation Bombard, looking into the operations of the Vikings club.
Among the items seized during the search were Vikings clothing, weapons, photos, jewelry, cash, eight motorcycles, two pickups, cocaine, cannabis resin, oxycodone and temazepam pills, and the powder containing fentanyl.
In September, Vincent Leonard Jr., said to be an associate of the Vikings and not a member, was sentenced to 18 months in jail after pleading guilty to drug charges.
Operation Bombard began as a joint RNC/RCMP investigation into the murder of Dale Porter, who was stabbed to death on his property in North River in June 2014. Two men, Al Potter and Daniel Leonard, are charged with first-degree murder as a result, and their preliminary hearing will begin this month.
Twitter: @tara_bradbury
