Report

          Michael Clairoux was found guilty of only one of the eight charges he faced (possession for the purpose of trafficking).  He was released on bail, after 17 months in jail, until sentencing.  Justice Jacqueline Loignon said there was a strong possibility that Clairoux, 37 at the time of arrest, participated in a drug ring run by the Hells Angels that operates in Ottawa, but ruled that the Crown could not prove his involvement.

          Clairoux's lawyer, Diane Condo, argued he should be sentenced to time served.  Clairoux was one of many people arrested in September 2011 at the end of a police drug investigation dubbed Project Finale which lasted a whole year.  Project Finale involved extensive surveillance and wiretaps.  Clairoux's stepson Daniel Levesque was also charged.  Daniel pleaded guilty and was sentenced last July to five years in prison for conspiring to traffic cocaine and marijuana for the benefit of a criminal organization, possessing a homemade .32 calibre handgun and ammunition.

          Clairoux was seen six times meeting with members of the drug ring during the investigation but had spaced out the six meetings over long periods of time.  In November 2010, police observed a Hell's Angels biker give Clairoux a roll of money.  Clairoux testified that it was actually a piece of jewelry.

          Clairoux denied that a stack of T shirts with the letters ORL meant Order, Respect, Loyalty.  He said the shirts depicting skulls and sabres were not meant for members of the Hell's Angels and that it was just hip clothes for people in Orleans.  Clairoux was charged with conspiracy to traffic marijuana, conspiracy to traffic cocaine, and three criminal organization counts: enhancing, directing and instructing, all charges were dropped.  He was also acquitted of possessing the proceeds of crime, $1,170 CAD, that Loignon ruled was not a suspicious sum of money.

          Since Clairoux has a medical marijuana certificate, he was acquitted of one count of possession for the purpose of trafficking.  Clairoux and his wife were both ordered to post a $5,000 CAD bond to secure his release.  He was ordered to avoid contact with a list of people and to remain at his Orleans home except in the case of a medical emergency.