Police in Ontario have arrested and charged three members of the Bacchus Motorcycle Club in connection with an auto theft investigation. They also recovered six stolen vehicles during the execution of multiple search warrants at the group’s Oakville clubhouse and other locations.
The Ontario Provincial Police released pictures taken inside the clubhouse, revealing a space that looks more like a tidy suburban rec room than the headquarters of a criminal organization.
One image shows a long wooden boardroom table flanked by a wall-hanging TV and a large black speaker. A second room is filled with black leather furniture and what appears to be a hand-knitted blanket. Both spaces are meticulously clean, with only a couple of water bottles and a bag of potato chips on one table. The rooms are decorated with large Bacchus banners. This is well organized crime.
Det. Insp. Scott Wade of the OPP told the National Post that there isn’t one standard style for motorcycle gang hangouts, but this one was more clean than most.
“I’ve been in some clubhouses that are spotless like your home, and some so disgusting you wouldn’t want to set your foot in them,” he said. However, he notes that “everyone has a picture of something dirtier and messier.”
Police do not release the addresses of clubhouses, but Wade noted this one was on a “rural property,” adding: “Every clubhouse is different.”
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In June of 2023, the OPP-led Biker Enforcement Unit (BEU) received information that members of Bacchus were in possession of stolen vehicles that had been “re-vinned” with fraudulent vehicle identification numbers, or VINs.
Then on Nov. 16, 2023, BEU members executed search warrants in Burlington, Orangeville, Etobicoke, Hamilton and Mississauga in Ontario, as well Paradise, a town just outside St. John’s, Nfld. A search warrant was also executed at Bacchus’s clubhouse in Oakville. In addition to the six vehicles, police recovered ownerships, insurance, key fobs and fraudulent VIN plates.
As a result of the investigation, three people were arrested and charged on July 2.
Chad Burtt of Oakville has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000; fraudulent concealment; and fraud over $5,000. Robert Janes of Oakville faces three counts of possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000; and two counts of fraudulent concealment. And Alan Miles of Amaranth, Ont., has been charged with possession of property obtained by crime over $5,000.
The accused are scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice in Orangeville on July 30, 2024.
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Wade said two of the accused are “full-patch” or senior-level members of the gang, while the third is an “associate” or probationary member. “Full-patch members are not restricted in any way,” he added. “They use a graduated process.”
The multi-force operation, code-named Project ABSTRACT, included assistance from the Caledon OPP Community Street Crime Unit, the OPP-led Provincial Auto Theft and Towing Team, Hamilton Police Service, Halton Regional Police Service Tactical Rescue Unit, and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in St John’s.
The OPP-led Provincial Asset Forfeiture Unit and the Équité Association also assisted throughout the investigation, playing a significant role in disrupting this criminal activity.
Lest the kempt nature of the clubhouse lull anyone into thinking its users are equally respectable, the OPP offers this description of Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs, or OMGs: “While the majority of motorcycle enthusiasts are law abiding, OMGs are criminal organizations whose activities cause harm and victimization in communities across Ontario. OMGs have been known to participate in illegal, profit-driven activities such as fraud, drug trafficking, extortion, intimidation, and murder.”
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