B.C. gang member Conor D’Monte sentenced to 15 years for conspiracy to commit murder | CBC News
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A man who police said was involved in a deadly gang war in B.C.’s Lower Mainland between 2008 and 2009 was sentenced to 15 years in prison for conspiracy to commit murder on Wednesday.
Conor D’Monte, who police said was a member of the United Nations gang, was sentenced after pleading guilty to the single charge last October.
Police say the charge was in relation to a plot to kill the Bacon brothers — Jonathan, James and Jarrod Bacon — who were leaders of the rival Red Scorpions gang.
According to police, the gang war involving the United Nations and Red Scorpions was “one of [B.C.’s] most violent periods of organized crime conflict” and endangered communities throughout the Lower Mainland.
D’Monte was charged with conspiracy to commit murder in 2011, and fled Canada before he could stand trial.
In February 2022, police announced he had been arrested in Puerto Rico after being named one of Canada’s most wanted fugitives. He was extradited to Canada in March 2024.
Sgt. Sarbjit Sangha, the spokesperson for the anti-gang Combined Forces Special Enforcement Unit, said in a statement that D’Monte’s sentencing was the result of years of investigative work.
“This sentence reflects the serious and calculated nature of the violence that occurred during one of the most turbulent periods of gang conflict in British Columbia’s history,” she said.
“The actions of those involved put countless lives at risk and contributed to significant harm in our communities.”
News of D’Monte’s arrest in February 2022 came as a shock to those who knew him in Puerto Rico and believed he was a charismatic organizer of Christmas gift drives for needy children and renovations for an elementary school.
Before his arrest, D’Monte also worked for a non-profit group called the Karma Honey Project, met with Puerto Rico’s agriculture secretary, and was invited to the governor’s mansion for his role in trying to save honeybees after Hurricane Maria.
D’Monte had also been charged with first-degree murder in relation to the killing of Kevin Leclair, another Red Scorpions gang member, in February 2009.
After he was sentenced for the conspiracy to commit murder charge, a spokesperson for the B.C. Prosecution Service confirmed that prosecutors asked for the first-degree murder charge to be stayed.