Surrey man loses appeal of firearms conviction

A Surrey man convicted of carrying a loaded Glock in his man purse has lost an appeal in the case.

Glenn Sheck had argued on appeal that his Charter rights were violated when police searched him outside an Earl’s restaurant in November 2010.

Therefore, the Glock they found in his bag, should not have been admitted into evidence, he said.

But B.C. Court of Appeal Chief Justice Robert Bauman disagreed in a ruling released Nov. 20.

Bauman noted that at the time of the search, anti-gang police suspected Sheck might have been behind a shooting targeting his ex-wife’s then boyfriend Chris Wasilewicz a few months before.

“On three occasions between 12 October 2010 and 3 November 2010, police received information from a confidential source that Glenn Harley Tetsuji Sheck was actively pursuing a plot to murder Mr. Wasilewicz and that he was regularly carrying a 9mm Glock handgun in a Louis Vuitton shoulder satchel or man purse,” Bauman said. “So strong was the police concern of a vendetta violently erupting between Wasilewicz and Sheck that they felt compelled to warn both of the threat of harm each faced from the other; Sheck in late July 2010 and Wasilewicz on 3 November 2010.”

Police were following Sheck on Nov. 4, 2010 when he entered the Earl’s about 7 p.m.

“The police reacted… and detained Mr. Sheck for investigation. They searched the man purse, purportedly pursuant to that investigative detention, for police and public safety purposes. They found the handgun and arrested Mr. Sheck for possession of a firearm,” he said.

Bauman said the trial judge was right to allow the gun into evidence and reject arguments Sheck’s Section 8 and 9 Charter rights were violated.

“The totality of the circumstances founded a legitimate investigative detention. I would not give effect to the submission attacking the trial judge’s conclusion that ss. 8 and 9 were not breached by police conduct in the detention and safety search of Mr. Sheck,” Bauman said.

Appeal Court Justices Sunni Stromberg-Stein and Edward Chiasson agreed.

Sheck was sentenced to 18 months for the gun conviction after earlier succeeding in getting a three-year mandatory sentence ruled unconstitutional.

Sheck is also wanted in Washington state, where he was indicted in January 2013 on 22 counts of conspiracy and money laundering more than $5 million in suspected drug profits.

read the court ruling here: