Judge grants bail to Alberta man accused of possessing weapons & explosives, harbouring extremist views
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An Alberta man facing nearly 35 weapons charges following an investigation by the RCMP’s national security unit has been granted bail ahead of his trial next year.
Kelvin Gregory Maure, 26, was arrested earlier this year after a lengthy investigation by the RCMP’s Alberta Integrated National Security Enforcement Team (INSET).
INSET alleged Maure posted “extremist” views online and “presented a threat to critical infrastructure, police, and the public.” He has been in jail since his arrest in February and has pleaded not guilty.
Maure was earlier denied bail by a provincial court judge. After a review, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Sterling Sanderman found the Crown failed to make a case for holding Maure and opted to release him with conditions.
“The Crown’s concerns about Mr. Maure’s beliefs are valid but misplaced,” Sanderman wrote in a decision issued Tuesday. “There is no concrete evidence before the court that ties him inexorably to these beliefs or groups.”
“To deny him bail based on these assertions would be wrong. It would be reminiscent of the over-reaction during the McCarthy era of the early 1950’s and to the unjustified fear of communist subversives.”
Maure lived at a home in Parkland County’s Heatherlea Estates subdivision with a man who shares his surname. According to police, he was active in online extremist and anti-government communities.
RCMP say their investigation into Maure and a group of like-minded individuals began in September 2020. While under surveillance, Maure’s activities allegedly escalated. Police say that in January he impersonated a police officer near Spruce Grove. Then, on Feb. 12, he allegedly damaged an oil and gas facility near Drayton Valley belonging to Obsidian Energy. He was arrested the following day.
During the investigation, police seized weapons and paraphernalia allegedly belonging to Maure, including two prohibited AK-style rifles, silencers, a 9 mm pistol, a “significant” amount of ammunition and clothing similar to that worn by the RCMP. He also allegedly possessed a quantity of TATP, a high explosive used in attacks including the July 2005 bombings in London, England.
Police did not initially say what specific ideology Maure allegedly ascribed to, but according to Sanderman’s decision his posts showed a “potential association or fascination with extreme right-wing groups that have fascistic or neo-Nazi predilections.” The Crown alleged Maure goes by the alias “Moleman” online, where that user posted at least one alleged image of themselves wearing fatigues and a balaclava next to an Edmonton Police Service officer on what appears to be Whyte Avenue.
Sanderman said in addition to the prohibited weapons, the Crown alleges Maure researched how to “remediate” firearms to make them fire fully automatic, as well as the “capability of certain explosives and how they could be used to create chaos in the transmission of electrical power.”
Maure’s counsel, Robert LaValley, argued the Crown “overstated to a considerable extent” Maure’s relationship with far-right groups.
“He argues that his fascination with weaponry and a certain lifestyle is the sign of an immature, role-playing young man who miscalculated enormously the seriousness of his conduct,” Sanderman summarized. “The conduct is magnified when viewed through the lens of the concern that all citizens should have in relation to the rise of neo-Nazi groups consisting of violent young men even in the most established western democracies.”
LaValley argued there are issues with the police search warrants, which will be addressed at Maure’s trial in April 2022.
Sanderman agreed to Maure’s bail plan. He will reside under curfew at his mother’s Edmonton apartment, and cannot leave unless accompanied by his mother or a court-ordered bail supervisor. He is prohibited from possessing firearms or accessing the Internet.
An Edmonton man named in the court decision will act as a surety for Maure and post $1,500 cash.
Maure’s judge-alone trial is scheduled to run April 4-19, 2022, in Stony Plain provincial court.
— With files from Anna Junker
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