Charges Laid in 4th "Greeks" Murder

CHBC VIDEO
Charges in four homicides (Video)Web posted on Monday, 30 April 2007 Mounties solve one Okanagan murder and may have solved another.

(Jessica Samuels) http://www.1075kiss.com/news/headlines/

Charges have been laid against 5 suspects in another murder allegedly in connection with the Greeks gang in Vernon. Corporal Henry Proce gave the names of those charged during a morning police news conference. 'Pete Manolakos, Andre Raymond, Dale Sipes, Sheldon O'Donnell and Douglas Brownell.' Proce says these charges are for the 2005 shooting death of Ronald Thom. Four of the suspects were already in police custody in connection with the death of David Marniuk. The fifth, Douglas Brownell, was arrested on Friday and is scheduled to appear in Kelowna court today.

This is the fourth murder in which Mounties have laid charges and are allegedly connected to the Greeks gang. Police have also laid charges in the deaths of Robert Hewison and Jeffrey Drake. The charges laid in the death of Robert Hewison is a also a new development Proce says,'This has not been previously released to the media but we have laid a charge with the murder of Mr. Hewison and in fact we've already received a conviction on that and that individual has been sentenced.' Corporal Henry Proce says police are not able to release the man's name at this time due to investigative reasons. Proce says the charges and conviction in the Hewison case all occurred with in the past month in Vancouver. Hewison's body was found in the Westside Road area in March 2005. He had been shot to death.
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5 men charged with murder in B.C. Interior CBC.ca

The RCMP have charged five men with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a Vernon man in May 2005, which they allege was part of a series of drug-related gang killings in the B.C. city. Eight people were shot or beaten to death in Vernon between July 2004 and June 2005 and police allege that seven of the slayings were connected to a gang they call the Greeks.
Only three of the killings had led to charges prior to Monday, when a special RCMP task force announced they have laid charges in two more of the homicides.

Five people have been charged in the fatal shooting of Ronald Thom, 31, in May 2005, including Peter Manolakos, who police allege was the leader of the gang. The other four men charged have been identified as Andre Raymond, Dale Sipes, Sheldon O'Donnell and Douglas Brownell. Thom's body was dumped on a back road south of Vernon. Thom's girlfriend, Belinda Scott, also disappeared. Her body was found three months later. Manolakas, Sipes, O'Donnell and Raymond were already in prison, after being arrested and charged in the spring of 2006 with the disappearance and slaying of David Marniuk Brownell was arrested on Friday.

Police also revealed that another man has been charged and has pleaded guilty to a charge of murdering Robert Hewison of Vancouver. RCMP Sgt. Al Haslett said that man's name is not being released in order to protect an ongoing investigation. The RCMP say their investigation has made a huge difference in making Vernon — which had the highest murder rate in Canada in 2005 — a safer place to live.