Bail granted to West Kelowna man who laced pills with fentanyl
WEST KELOWNA – A West Kelowna man who has pleaded guilty to charges related to the production of more than 1,000 pills laced with fentanyl out of a warehouse last year, has been released on bail.
Leslie John McCulloch, 38, was arrested in March last year after police raided a warehouse on Auburn Road and a home on Petterson Road. Police found more than 1,300 fake OxyContin and Percocet pills, 195 grams of a substance thought to be fentanyl, two well-used industrial pill presses capable of making 2,500 pills an hour and a chemical mixer.
Kelowna RCMP Sgt. Alex Lynch told Global Okanagan he had been importing fentanyl from China and likely made hundreds of thousands of fake Pecrocet and OxyContin pills laced with the deadly drug.
Police also found gold bars they believe were stolen and $940,000 in cash suspected to be proceeds of crime.
A technical suitability report was ordered to determine if he is a candidate for electronic monitoring and yesterday, Feb. 22, he entered guilty pleas to possession for the purpose of trafficking and production of “an analogue of fentanyl,” according to parole documents.
He was released on $15,000 bail.
His co-accused, former girlfriend Rebekkah Rae White, 26, was also arrested and charged, but the status of her case is unclear.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Adam Proskiw or call 250-718-0428 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
