UN gang members await sentencing for murder conspiracy

Four alleged members of the UN gang and one associate are facing various sentences of 11 to 14 years in prison for conspiracy to murder the three Bacon brothers and other Red Scorpions gang members in 2008 and 2009.

On Wednesday, the judge in the case said she would reserve her final sentencing decision until Monday, but said she'll accept the joint submission of the Crown and defence recommending the various sentences.

The five men — Barzan Tilli-Cholli, Yong Sung John Lee, Dilun Heng, Karwan Ahmet Saed and Ion Kroitoru — pleaded guilty earlier this week to conspiring to kill Jonathan, Jamie and Jarrod Bacon and their associates at the height of a gang war in Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

The sentences proposed in the joint submission from the Crown and defence lawyers were:

• 14 years for Barzan Tilli-Choli. 
• 13 years for Ion (John WIlliam) Kroitoru.
•  12 years for Dilun Heng.
•  12 years for Karwan Ahmet Saed.
•  11 years for Yong Sung John Lee.

John Turner, Kroitoru's lawyer, said his client was not a member of the UN gang, but was a friend or associate of the gang's leader, Clayton Rouche.

Since they were arrested 4½ years ago before federal laws changed, they're eligible for a double-time credit for time served awaiting trial, meaning the actual sentences will likely be five, four, three, three and two years respectively.

All except Tilli-Choli could also be eligible for statutory release after serving two-thirds of their sentence. But Tilli-Choli could serve the full term because he has only permanent resident status in Canada and faces immediate deportation to Iraq at the end of his sentence.

Prisoners in that situation usually have to serve the full sentence handed to them, according to Tilli-Choli's lawyer Michelle Daneliuk, who had argued for a shorter sentence so his removal would be "sooner rather than later."

• Read about the alleged UN gang leader who will be deported to Iraq 
• Read how alleged UN gang members plotted Bacon brothers' murders

Following their pleas, the Crown stayed charges of murder and attempted murder against the five in the fatal shooting of Jonathan Barber, a stereo installer with no connection to gangs or organized crime. Barber was killed in May 2008 in a case of mistaken identity, while reportedly driving a Porsche owned by Jamie Bacon along a street in Burnaby.

Murder conspiracy began in 2008

According to an agreed statement of facts filed in court, the murder conspiracy began in January 2008, after UN gang leader Clayton Rouche was shot at by an associate of the Bacon brothers.

Rouche then put out a reward for the killing of each of the Bacon brothers, as well as for three of their associates. The sum for slaying Jamie Bacon, the youngest of the Bacon brothers, went as high as $300,000 at one point.

Up until May 2008, when he was arrested and detained in the U.S., Rouche was the mastermind behind the plot to kill the Bacon brothers, the statement said.

There were multiple attempts to co-ordinate and carry out the killings.

In May 2008, UN member Duane Meyer, who attempted to kill a Bacon brother associate earlier in the year, was shot to death in Abbotsford, B.C.

Rouche and his associates then set out in separate vehicles the following day to scout out where the Bacon brothers and their associates could be found. The court statement said, "they were out for revenge ... now on the spot."

A chance encounter with Bacon brother associate Michael Le set off a chase along Highway 1 through two Metro Vancouver communities that saw Le's car sprayed by bullets.

Bystander mistaken for gang member killed

At one point in the day, Rouche was even stopped by the police, who were monitoring the intercepts. When asked by an officer when the violence would stop, Rouche said it won't, and "that it would be the same if a police officer was murdered, the police would also want revenge, that was just the way it was."

It was on that same day that an innocent bystander was mistaken for Jamie Bacon and killed.

Jonathan Barber was a stereo installer and a friend of Jonathan Bacon's, according to court documents. On the night of the killing, Jonathan Bacon, the eldest of the Bacon brothers, drove a Porsche to meet Barber, who took the car to install a new set of speakers.

Meanwhile, UN gang conspirators pulled up at the same location. After Barber got into the driver's seat of the Porsche, his girlfriend, Vicky King, followed in her own vehicle.

Seconds later, both vehicles were showered with bullets, and Barber died instantly. King sustained gunshot wounds to both her arms.

2 suspects still sought by police

The Lower Mainland's Integrated Homicide Investigation Team said it is still seeking at least two more suspects in the conspiracy plot against the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpions associates.

Cory (Frankie) Vallee and Conor Vincent D'Monte, alleged members of the UN gang, have both been wanted on Canada-wide warrants since being charged in January 2011.

Both are wanted for the conspiracy against the Bacons, and for the slaying of rival gang member Kevin LeClair, who died after being shot outside a mall in Langley in 2009. Vallee was also charged in the killing of Jonathan Barber.

Jonathan Bacon died two years ago after being shot in Kelowna. Jarrod and Jamie Bacon are currently both in jail. Jarrod is serving a 12-year sentence for conspiracy to traffic cocaine.

Jamie is serving time in a federal facility on a weapons conviction and is also awaiting trial on a first-degree murder charge in connection with the so-called "Surrey Six" slayings in October 2007, a separate case that involved the killing of six people in a Surrey highrise, including two innocent bystanders.