5 N.B. family members appear in court on 57 charges

Five members of the Tingley family of Salisbury were in court Tuesday morning in Moncton on a litany of drug and weapons-related charges.

The five men, along with three female members of the family, are facing 57 charges in connection with the RCMP's Operation Jekyll. The charges include being part of an organized crime group, conspiracy to traffic in cocaine and other drugs and weapons and firearms offences.

On Tuesday, Rodney, Roger, Kevin, Michael and Chris Tingley all chose trial by judge only.

They told the judge they wanted information on how police received authorization for their search warrants.

The Crown prosecutor said some of that information had been passed along. But the lawyer acting on behalf of the Tingleys for the day said the information was on a hard drive and the Tingleys don't have access to a computer in jail.

The prosecutor replied that there are 400 wiretap conversations and printing all of that and other information would require "printing out a million pieces of paper," but he said he would do what was necessary.

The lawyer acting for the Tingleys also asked the judge to set a preliminary hearing date as soon as possible. But the judge decided to wait to set a date until the other three family members appear in court on Jan. 12.

The preliminary hearing is expected to take four weeks. The five Tingley men remain in custody.

Many supporters of the family were in court on Tuesday. One woman cried and handed one of the court staff a family picture to give to Michael Tingley.

The Tingleys were arrested when 130 RCMP officers stormed eight different locations in the small village of Salisbury, west of Moncton, on Dec. 11. The police raid involved officers from across the Maritimes.

It took RCMP from across the province a year to build their case. When the RCMP made the arrests, RCMP Staff Sgt. Robert Power said the Mounties had known for years there was organized crime in the area but nobody would come forward to help police.