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Accused killer arrested in Mexico after three years on the lam

Cory Vallee was wanted for murder of Kevin LeClair of Abbotsford and Jonathan Barber of Burnaby, as well as conspiring to kill Bacons
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Cory Vallee

A man who has been on the RCMP's most-wanted list for more than three years in connection with a murder plot against the Bacon brothers, as well as the killing of a rival gang member from Abbotsford and the slaying of an innocent man, has been arrested in Mexico.

Cory Vallee, 37, was arrested in Guadalajara last Thursday by the National Immigration Institute for "administrative offences" and was "red flagged" as being wanted by Interpol – the world's largest police organization – for crimes in Canada, according to a press release.

Vallee was returned to Canada on Sunday.

Canada-wide warrants had been issued in January 2011 for Vallee and co-accused Conor D'Monte, members of the UN Gang, after they were charged with the first-degree murder of Kevin LeClair of Abbotsford and for conspiring to kill the Bacon brothers and their associates.

D'Monte (in photo at left) remains at large.

LeClair, 26, a Red Scorpions gang member and associate of the Bacon brothers, was gunned down outside a Langley IGA grocery store in February 2009 and died in hospital two days later.

He had been living in a home in the 4300 block of Meighan Place in Abbotsford prior to his death.

Vallee was also charged with the May 2008 murder of innocent man Jonathan Barber of Langley and the attempted murder of Barber's girlfriend.

Barber, a stereo installer, was driving a Porsche Cayenne SUV – owned by the Bacons – to have a stereo system equipped when he was the victim of a drive-by shooting in Burnaby. His girlfriend, who was driving in a vehicle behind him at the time, was injured.

At the time the warrant was issued for Vallee's arrest, RCMP said he might still have connections to Florida, where he grew up, and that he was associated to a drug network in Mexico.

Vallee was last been seen in Canada in October 2009.

Several other men were also charged in January 2011 with plotting to kill the Bacons – Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie – who were living in Abbotsford at the time of the conspiracy.

Dan Russell was sentenced in April 2013 to 12 years for Barber's death and for the conspiracy against the Bacons.

Five others – Barzan Tilli-Choli, Karwan Ahmet Saed, Ion Kroitoru, Yong Sung John Lee and Dilung Heng – pleaded guilty to the conspiracy charges in July 2013 and were sentenced to between seven and 14 years.

Jonathan Bacon was killed in a drive-by shooting outside a Kelowna hotel in August 2011, and three men – Jujhar Khun-Khun, Michael Kerry Hunter Jones and Jason Thomas McBride – are in prison awaiting trial for his murder.

 

 

 



Vikki Hopes

About the Author: Vikki Hopes

I have been a journalist for almost 40 years, and have been at the Abbotsford News since 1991.
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