A Winnipeg small-business owner is expected to spend more than four years in federal prison after pleading guilty to possessing cash obtained by crime.
Chris Silva, 48, who co-owns Sherbrook Street shop Hudson Bagels with his wife, was arrested in December 2022 amid an 18-month Winnipeg Police Service organized crime probe into a drug network with interprovincial connections.
The investigation, dubbed Project Onyx, resulted in 13 people being arrested and charged. Police also seized 50 kilograms of cocaine, 20 kg of methamphetamine, smaller quantities of other illicit drugs, handguns, 12 vehicles and $500,000 in cash.
In February 2023, city police said the probe tracked drugs shipped from Ontario and British Columbia and distributed in Manitoba.
On Monday, Silva pleaded guilty to possession of the proceeds of crime over $5,000 in front of Court of King’s Bench Justice Candace Grammond.
Federal Crown prosecutor Kirsty Elgert told Grammond she intends to enter stays of proceedings on charges of trafficking a controlled substance and possession for the purpose of trafficking in February, when Silva is to be sentenced.
Elgert and defence lawyer Eric Wach plan to jointly recommend Silva be sentenced to four years, three months behind bars.
Elgert read an agreed statement of facts to the court, outlining some of what police discovered about the drug network, as well as Silva’s involvement.
She said investigators were tipped off by confidential informants in summer 2021 about a high-level drug network reportedly operated by two Manitoba men, Biniam Fitur and Devon Creary.
“The information indicated that Fitur and Creary were overseeing a group of drug traffickers and importing large amounts of cocaine and methamphetamine into the province of Manitoba,” Elgert said.
She described Fitur and Creary, both in their early 40s, as “close criminal associates,” who operated as a co-operative, but were responsible for their own illicit employees and customers.
In April, Fitur pleaded guilty to trafficking a controlled substance, court records show. He was given an eight-year prison sentence.
Creary remains before the court, accused of the same offence.
Elgert said police obtained numerous authorizations from judges during the lengthy investigation, allowing detectives to intercept communications in homes and vehicles, as well warrants to covertly enter residences and vehicles, install video surveillance and search luggage.
She noted the drug network used encrypted communications software and installed surveillance cameras on stash houses in a bid to avoid police detection.
Silva came to police attention when a vehicle registered in his name was spotted at a meeting with Fitur at Deacon’s Corner in July 2022, Elgert said. The vehicle was again spotted at a meeting with Fitur at the Southdale Mall in Winnipeg in October 2022.
In November 2022, Elgert said, police observed Fitur leave his home carrying a black gift bag — which investigators had previously searched without his knowledge by covertly entering his home — that contained about $40,000 in cash.
Fitur met with Silva at the mall and gave him the bag; investigators followed Silva home to confirm his identity.
In early December 2022, Elgert said, Silva again got cash from Fitur, then shipped a package to British Columbia under a false name, which was found to contain about $95,000.
Silva was arrested Dec. 14, 2022, the same day police found two kg of cocaine in his garage, as well as cash and score sheets used to tally how much money or drugs he was owed, Elgert said.
Justice officials attempted to seize cash from Hudson Bagels’ business bank accounts, as well as accounts belonging to Silva and his wife, alleging in a civil forfeiture lawsuit filed in 2022 the money was intended to be used to engage in unlawful activity.
That court action was discontinued in October 2023, court records show. No further details are included in the court file.
About $7,100 of the cash found by police in Silva’s home was successfully seized in court by the civil forfeiture unit as the proceeds of crime.
The one-storey bagel shop in West Broadway began operating in November 2020. Before it opened, the owners commissioned a graffiti artist to paint “bagels” in multi-coloured block letters on the building’s south facing wall.
Silva remains on bail ahead of his Feb. 12 sentencing hearing.
erik.pindera@freepress.mb.ca
Erik Pindera
Reporter
Erik Pindera is a reporter for the Free Press, mostly focusing on crime and justice. The born-and-bred Winnipegger attended Red River College Polytechnic, wrote for the community newspaper in Kenora, Ont. and reported on television and radio in Winnipeg before joining the Free Press in 2020. Read more about Erik.
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