A prominent member of the United Nations gang who lived in Kelowna is now serving a 10-year sentence.
Douglas Edward Vanalstine, 52, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to traffic cocaine after an undercover agent tricked him and another man three years ago. They were sentenced in Vancouver this week.
"We're very pleased with the sentence," said Sgt. Lindsey Houghton of the Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit of B.C. "It's important to send a message these types of crimes are not tolerated in our communities. If you commit them, we will catch you and you will go to jail."
Vanalstine and Daryl Robert Johnson, 33, met several times in 2009 with a former drug dealer who'd become a police agent. The agent, whose name is protected by a publication ban, set up bogus cocaine deals with members of the
UN gang and the Red Scorpions, led by the notorious Bacon brothers.
The agent made arrangements with Vanalstine and Johnson to buy 100 kilograms of cocaine from Mexico.
They contributed $100,040 as a down payment and accepted 100 kilograms of fake cocaine. Police arrested them in November 2009.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Carol Ross sentenced Vanalstine, a one-time leader of the UN gang, to 10 years. The judge gave him double-time credit for the time he spent in pre-trial custody and subtracted 79 months from the term. He must serve another three years and five months.
The judge gave Johnson, another UN member, an eight-year sentence. He got credit for 10 months of pre-trial custody (he spent time out on bail) and must serve another seven years and two months.
Both men must submit DNA samples and are banned from having firearms for life. They also forfeit the $100,040.
The sentences are significant, said Houghton.
"This is a conspiracy file . . . To import or export narcotics is talking about it and planning it and arranging it to happen without actually
doing it. A lot of people would think it's not as serious. That's why we're pleased.
"We're catching them before they're able to do it."
Vanalstine was an original member of the UN gang, founded by Clay Roueche in the Fraser Valley in 1997. Rouche is now serving a 30-year sentence in the U.S. for drug smuggling and money laundering.
Vanalstine was a resident of Kelowna, although police weren't certain when he lived here. The 2009 drug deal took place in the Lower Mainland.
The UN gang and the Red Scorpions were fighting a nasty gang war in 2008 and 2009 when the CFSEU started the investigation, dubbed E-Pintle. At one point, 20 officers were involved.
Red Scorpion Jarrod Bacon is serving a 12-year sentence after he was convicted in the same investigation. His brother, Jonathon, was gunned down in front of a Kelowna hotel in August 2011.