WINNIPEG - The Hells Angels' Winnipeg clubhouse was seized Thursday morning by Manitoba Justice officials and Winnipeg police.
The property, located just south of West Kildonan Collegiate, has been taken under the provincial Criminal Property Forfeiture Act, a civil law that allows property used in unlawful acts to be seized by the government.
Police and provincial justice officials moved in on the property about 9 a.m., and later removed the spiked metal gate emblazoned with the bike gang's insignia. They also seized a pair of Harley Davidson motorcycles and other property.
In a statement released Thursday, Manitoba Justice alleges the Scotia Street clubhouse was being used by the biker gang "as a place to plan and carry out criminal activity."
The allegations have not been proven in court but the clubhouse was seized Thursday under an interim court order.
Gord Schumacher, director of the province's criminal property forfeiture unit, said the only focus was the house and property. He said two Hells Angels associates were present in the home and ordered to leave the property, but were not arrested.
The house became the Manitoba chapter's clubhouse in late 2001.
Schumacher said it's one more step in the fight against organized crime.
"It is a big step, but it's an early step," Schumacher said of the seizure.
The province has seized the house on an interim basis and the home's legal owner, Leonard Beauchemin, has 40 days to file a statement of defence.
"If he does that, the fight is on and we'll see at the end of the day who retains ownership of the property," Schumacher said.
Tax records list Beauchemin as a resident of the one-storey home but a source said he currently resides in Ontario. The property was registered in Beauchemin's name in February 2008.
Beauchemin formerly owned the one-time North End clubhouse of the Los Brovos motorcycle gang.
The 2,865-sq. foot clubhouse, listed as a single-family dwelling, is on the Red River at the end of a dead-end. The property's assessed value is $357,000.
Built in 1954, the house has a finished basement, nine rooms, and fireplace, according to its tax assessment. The assessed land area is 33,018 sq. feet.
Specially-appointed court officers were also on hand to catalogue and remove any property, including papers, disks and computers, that may contain information protected by attorney-client privilege.
- With files from Chris Kitching and Paul Turenne
jason.halstead@sunmedia.ca
