Date:   Mar 4, 2015

Victoria BC – An observant K9 officer, her dog, and patrol members are being credited with getting four potentially dangerous criminals off the street after a traffic stop on Monday morning.

The officer was watching an area in James Bay as there had been recent incidents of break and enters. While she and her K9 partner were there, she noticed a car circling the neighbourhood with its headlights out.

The officer followed and pulled the vehicle over in the 600-block of Battery Street. As the investigation progressed, evidence was found to arrest all four occupants of the car. During the search of the vehicle, and bags found inside, officers located two ‘BB’ guns that were replica handguns, brass knuckles, a baseball bat and a quantity of methamphetamine.

Two of the occupants were also breaching previous court-ordered conditions.

The vehicle was seized and the four suspects were brought back to VicPD headquarters.

“This is another example of the exemplary work that our K9 section does every day in Victoria and Esquimalt,’ said Inspector Colin Watson, Officer in Charge of VicPD’s Esquimalt Division, which includes the K-9 Section. “This is a great example of intelligence-led policing.”

Chantelle MacLeod, a 20-year-old Victoria woman, Fiona Gannon, a 35-year-old Langford woman and Steven Middleton, a 25-year-old Victoria man, were charged with two counts each of possession of a dangerous weapon and possession of a controlled substance

In addition to those charges, Jordan Moreland, a 25-year-old Victoria man was also charged with two counts of breaching court ordered conditions.  All but Gannon remain in custody.

*Photo Credit for this story KelownaNow.com*