Queens District RCMP is looking for a 41-year-old man from Shelburne wanted on a province-wide arrest warrant.
Jonathan Robert Bennie, who goes by John, faces charges of:
resisting or wilfully obstructing a police officer
operation of a motor vehicle while impaired
failure or refusal to comply with alcohol demand
Bennie is described at 6-foot-6 and 185 pounds. He has red hair and blue eyes.
Anyone with information is asked to call Queens District RCMP at 902-354-5721 or their local police. People can also call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), and leave an anonymous tip.
A Liverpool man is accused of impersonating an RCMP officer. (RCMP)
A Queens County man has been charged with several offences, including stealing a dump truck and impersonating a police officer.
Christopher Allan MacLeod, 43, of Liverpool was charged after incidents on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
RCMP say that on Dec. 26 at about 9:20 p.m., a man approached an RCMP officer outside the Cookville RCMP detachment in Bridgewater and said he was an RCMP sergeant who had just been transferred from another province.
He drove to the detachment in a black Dodge Ram and was dressed in civilian clothes, according to an RCMP news release. He said he didn’t have any RCMP identification.
The officer confirmed that the man was not a fellow officer and arrested him.
Lunenburg District RCMP charged MacLeod with impersonating a peace officer and breach of a recognizance. He appeared in Bridgewater provincial court on Dec. 29 and was released on conditions.
On Jan. 1, at 11:45 a.m., Queens District RCMP got a call about a stolen dump truck from a garage on Devonshire Road in West Caledonia.
While officers were on their way to the scene, they saw the vehicle on Highway 3 in Liverpool.
They stopped the truck and safely arrested the driver, whom police identified as MacLeod. They allege that MacLeod entered the garage on Dec. 31 and stayed overnight before taking the truck.
Queens District RCMP have charged MacLeod with break and enter with intent, theft of a motor vehicle, possession of property obtained by crime and two counts of failing to comply with an order.
MacLeod appeared in Bridgewater provincial court on those charges on Jan. 2 and was remanded into custody. He appeared again on Jan. 7 and was ordered back to jail until his next appearance on Feb. 4.
RCMP spokeswoman Cpl. Carlie McCann asked people to contact police or Crime Stoppers if they have any information about either incident.
“At this point I don’t anticipate there being further charges related to either of these two files, but we will continue to investigate if new information is learned.”
MacLeod is listed in Nova Scotia property records as the co-owner, with Charles King, of 27 West Berlin Wharf Rd. in West Berlin. A house, truck and several outbuildings were destroyed in a fire there on Dec. 22. RCMP said at the time that one man was arrested at the scene but later released and not charged in the fire. They have not said what caused the blaze, but said they had reports of fireworks before it began.
RCMP say that anybody worried about the identity of a police officer should ask the officer for identification or contact their local detachment’s non-emergency line. In an emergency, call 911.
“Nova Scotia RCMP regularly reinforces with all of our officers the importance of self-identification,” McCann said.
“If you are in a situation where you suspect that someone might be using or planning to use real or replica police equipment or if you’re in a situation where something is concerning or seems off, please don’t hesitate to call local police or if you believe you may be in immediate danger, call 911.
“In a situation like a traffic stop, you can ask to see an officer’s badge and ID card and that will have their regimental number and the ID card will have a photo. We always want Nova Scotians to be aware of suspicious behaviour, and don’t hesitate to reach out to police to report it.”
RCMP are looking for Shaun Clarence Cunningham (RCMP Nova Scotia)
Queens District RCMP are asking for the public’s help in finding a man wanted on a province-wide arrest warrant on sexual assault charges.
Police are looking for Shaun Clarence Cunningham, 46, whom police say is known to travel between Shelburne and Queens County.
He faces charges of sexual assault, sexual interference, two counts of invitation to sexual touching and failure to appear in court.
He’s described as five-foot-nine, 175 pounds. He has brown hair and blue eyes.
RCMP say they’ve made several attempts to find him. They’re asking anyone with information to call the Queens District detachment at 902-354-5721 or their local police department. Anonymous tips can be phone into Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477), submitted online at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca, or by using the P3 Tips app.
The Nova Scotia government wants to put illegal cannabis dispensaries out of business. (The Province of Nova Scotia)
The Nova Scotia government wants police to crack down on illegal cannabis sales.
Justice Minister Scott Armstrong recently asked all police agencies in the province to step up their enforcement efforts.
“Illegal dispensaries pose a real threat to consumers, to youth, and to the integrity of our regulated system,” Armstrong said.
“We have already taken steps to confront these risks, but the challenge is evolving, and so must our response. Protecting Nova Scotians means strengthening our efforts, advancing new measures, and shutting down this shadow market before it can cause more harm to public health and safety.”
The Nova Scotia Liquor Corp. is the only legal retailer of recreational cannabis in the province.
A recent government review found at least 118 illegal outlets across Nova Scotia, compared with 51 legal NSLC cannabis stores.
The province says it’s concerned that because illegal sales are unregulated, they pose threats to public health. Provincial officials are also worried about the involvement of organized crime in the cannabis trade.
RCMP charged 21 people with 50 offences in February after raids on Mi’kmaw-owned cannabis businesses in Queens, Kings, Lunenburg and Annapolis counties.
Southwest Nova RCMP’s Project Highfield began in October 2024 and involved 13 dispensaries throughout southwestern Nova Scotia.
Three people from Queens County were among those charged.
Supt. Jason Popik told QCCR at the time that organized crime is using indigenous communities to undercut the legal cannabis market, with unregulated product.
“I see (organized crime) infiltrating the legal cannabis market and they’re really exploiting the indigenous communities,” he said.
“They’re trying to utilize the treaties to find a rational way for them to sell their drugs. And they’re doing it through the people running the different dispensaries. Organized crime will exploit any opportunity they have. … They’re making a lot of money, the dispensaries are the ones taking the risk and the dispensary owners are the ones being arrested.”
In addition to asking police to step up their enforcement, the government is also asking radio stations across the province to turn down advertising from illegal dispensaries.
In a letter to advertising sales managers, Armstrong said that even though promotion of cannabis is illegal, some non-NSLC operators are advertising on credible media outlets.
“By choosing not to air or publish promotional messages for illegal cannabis operators, you will be helping to protect public health and support community safety,” Armstrong writes.
“I would urge you to support public health and safety in Nova Scotia by ensuring your outlet does not accept advertising that promotes illegal cannabis sales.”
The Micmac Rights Association, which protested the RCMP action earlier this year, said that the province has no jurisdiction over indigenous and treaty rights. They say the 1752 treaty gives them the right to sell cannabis.
The group said the province is just upset that Mi’kmaw dispensaries are undercutting the government’s “cannabis monopoly”.
In second-quarter financial results released Dec. 2, the NSLC said local cannabis sales were up by 3.8 per cent to $9.6 million.
Region of Queens councillors want more traffic enforcement in places like Liverpool and Summerville. (Rick Conrad)
Region of Queens councillors want the RCMP to crack down on traffic violations and drug crime and they say they’re willing to put up the money to hire extra officers.
Staff Sgt. Dan Archibald is the commander of the Queens District RCMP detachment. He recently provided a quarterly police report to council.
He said that having a dedicated street crime enforcement team of two officers to investigate drug complaints would free up other officers to address longstanding irritants like traffic.
“I feel that it’s too easy for individuals to sell illicit drugs from their residences with the lack of enforcement or capability in doing enforcement on our behalf. A designated street crime team or general investigations team would not only give us the resource power to do it, but it would come with the knowledge and experience that would be required to do it.
“To me, it would make (Queens County) that much better of a place to live to be able to enforce those on a routine.”
There was one charge under the controlled drugs and substances act from April to June this year. Last year, there were four in the same period.
The detachment is currently staffed with 10 constables, which includes one community policing officer. Two corporals act as shift supervisors and operations manager, in addition to Archibald himself. There are also two civilian employees.
The Region of Queens spends just under $3 million a year on policing.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault said council decided more than 10 years ago to pull funding for an extra officer. And she said another officer left the area soon after that and wasn’t replaced.
“I’ve been getting a lot of complaints lately of drugs, needles, within Pine Grove Park,” she said.
“I think council has to tackle that right away. … I think now we do have the need to support that extra officer without a doubt, with what’s going on now in today’s world. And I really hope that council will support this initiative. ”
Overall, Archibald said there was no big spike in crime in Queens County over the same period last year.
But calls for assaults, extortion, harassment or threats were up to 48 from 32. There 42 calls related to intimate partner violence. Twelve people, nine male and three female, were charged in those incidents.
RCMP also dealt with 388 traffic violations, up from 250 the year before.
Archibald said the increase in traffic-related charges is the result of targeted enforcement.
“We’ve been doing some proactive traffic enforcement throughout Queens County,” he said.
“ For the two months of that first quarter, we’ve focused on North Queens, Caledonia area, and rural roads off of Caledonia, which has been great. And what that looks like is a day designated with some extra members coming in, doing strictly traffic enforcement, road safety things. People are happy to see us in places where they haven’t seen us previously. We’re looking at keeping that up every month at the very least focusing one day in various areas throughout the community.”
Some councillors want more of it.
Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he regularly gets complaints from residents in his downtown Liverpool district that they never see police.
“The lack of police presence in this community, I find quite appalling. I never see a cop. Privateer Days, I think I’ve seen five of them in the tent, but I don’t see them. And I live on the west side of Main Street, which is a drag strip. They start around around the fire hall or Cameron’s Corner, and it is a drag strip, and you can talk to anybody on that street, and they’ll tell you. And we never see a cop. We never see a radar set up.”
Archibald said that covering a large area like Queens County can be challenging.
“Policing has changed over the last however many years, (and) the demand for police presence has grown. Every time someone calls the police, whether it’s North Queens, West Queens, East Queens, wherever it is, if we have two members on during a day shift or two on night shift, a call in North Queens drags two members, whether it’s mental health, whether it’s a mischief, whether it’s a domestic, whether it’s a traffic complaint, that drags the only police officers out of Liverpool to a different area which takes them away from town for two hours. So it’s harder to designate police to the town of Liverpool when there’s other needs.”
But Archibald said they’re trying to address those kinds of concerns with their monthly traffic initiative. And he said installing more digital speed signs in some areas would also help, especially during tourist season.
Archibald told councillors that residents should report traffic violations to the detachment as soon as they see them.
“If they call us in real time, and we’ve got some new recruits here … who are gung ho on getting out there and if someone gives information as to who these people are, what they’re driving, like, they are out of the office to go look for them. So now’s a good time to report those people as well. You don’t always get that in certain detachments, but we have some young folks who who are enjoying traffic enforcement.”
RCMP have charged two men in after a break-and-enter in Pleasant River. (Vlad Vasnetsov via Pixabay)
Two men are facing multiple charges after a break-in at a home in Pleasant River on May 31.
Queens District RCMP say they’ve charged Devon Matthew James Kanne, 34, of Danesville, with breaking and entering and committing. He has been released on conditions and will appear in Bridgewater provincial court on Aug. 13.
Michael Gerald Wentzell, 32, of Italy Cross, is charged with:
Breaking and entering with intent
Uttering threats against a person
Assault with a weapon
Possession of property obtained by crime less than or equal to $5,000
Three counts of failure to comply with probation order (three counts)
Two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon knowing its possession is unauthorized
Two counts of possession of a prohibited weapon for dangerous purpose
Wentzell appeared in Bridgewater provincial court on June 2 and was released on conditions. He’s scheduled to be back in court on June 25.
Police say they responded to a break-and-enter at a home on Old Chelsea Road at about 8 p.m. on May 31. They were told a man broke into the home wielding a knife.
The homeowner confronted the man, who threatened the owner. The homeowner then left the residence and called police.
The suspect fled the scene in an SUV driven by another man.
About 45 minutes later, Lunenburg District RCMP stopped the vehicle in Hebbville. The driver, who was the only person in the vehicle, was arrested.
The other man alleged to have broken into the home was found walking along Hwy. 208 near Crouse Road and arrested at about 9:30 p.m. by Queens District RCMP.
RCMP say they recovered the stolen property and nobody was injured.
RCMP have charged a 60-year-old Mill Village man with attempted murder.
Queens District RCMP were called to a house on Hwy. 3 in Mill Village on March 28 at about 3:30 a.m.
Officers and ambulance personnel found an 84-year-old man with life-threatening injuries after being stabbed.
Another man had fled the scene before police arrived, according to an RCMP news release late Wednesday afternoon.
Both men knew each other, and no one else was in the home at the time of the assault.
Police arrested a suspect at a home in Voglers Cove at 7:45 p.m.
Derek Dominix, 60, has been charged with attempted murder and taken into custody. He’s scheduled to appear in Bridgewater provincial court on April 10 at 9:30 a.m.
Some of the drugs seized in RCMP raids in southwestern Nova Scotia earlier in February. (RCMP Nova Scotia)
UPDATED Feb. 25 at 5:20 p.m.
RCMP have charged 21 people, including three from Queens County, with more than 50 offences after raids on Mi’kmaw-owned cannabis businesses in Queens, Kings, Lunenburg and Annapolis counties.
Southwest Nova RCMP called the operation Project Highfield. It began in October 2024 and involved 13 dispensaries throughout southwestern Nova Scotia.
RCMP said Tuesday it involved officers from various units, as well as police services in Kentville, Bridgewater and Annapolis.
Police raided the retailers between Feb. 4 and 13. Two of those were on the Wildcat and Ponhook reserves of the Acadia First Nation.
RCMP held a news conference in New Minas on Tuesday afternoon to announce the charges and items seized.
They conducted raids on dispensaries on- and off-reserve, Supt. Jason Popik of Southwest Nova RCMP told QCCR on Tuesday, including in Acadia, Glooscap and Annapolis Valley First Nations.
Police seized:
141.4 kg of dried cannabis
189.29 kg of cannabis edibles
46 kg of liquid cannabis
23.4 kg of hashish
9.5 kg of psilocybin, or magic mushrooms
958 cartons of unstamped tobacco
18 firearms (17 long guns and a handgun)
$16,143.14 in cash
3 ATMs
7 shed-like structures
Supt. Popik told QCCR in an interview on Tuesday that organized crime is using indigenous communities to undercut the legal cannabis market, with unregulated product.
“I see them infiltrating the legal cannabis market and they’re really exploiting the indigenous communities,” he said.
“They’re trying to utilize the treaties to find a rational way for them to sell their drugs. And they’re doing it through the people running the different dispensaries. Organized crime will exploit any opportunity they have. … They’re making a lot of money, the dispensaries are the ones taking the risk and the dispensary owners are the ones being arrested.”
Supt. Popik said the wholesale value of all the drugs seized is about $1.25 million, while the street or retail value is between $2.5 and $3 million.
The Micmac Rights Association is protesting the RCMP action. Many of those charged belong to the organization.
The group says Mi’kmaw have a right under the Peace and Friendship Treaty of 1752 to sell cannabis at truckhouses on reserve.
They say officers desecrated sacred objects, destroyed personal property and traumatized Mi’kmaw men, women and children. The group plans a protest on the Angus L. Macdonald bridge in Halifax on March 10. On June 21, a 15-year-old boy will lead a 111-kilometre march from Annapolis Valley First Nation to the Dartmouth RCMP headquarters.
Twenty-one people are facing 52 charges under the Cannabis Act, Controlled Drugs and Substances Act, the Excise Act and the Criminal Code, including:
Possession of cannabis for the purpose of selling
Unauthorized sale of cannabis
Possession for the purpose of trafficking (psilocybin)
Possession of unstamped tobacco
Possession of unstamped cannabis
Careless use of a firearm
Possession of prohibited or restricted firearm with ammunition
Service Nova Scotia’s alcohol, gaming, fuel and tobacco division, and the federal Public Prosecution Service, also assisted in the investigation, RCMP said.
Those charged will begin to appear in court in June, RCMP say. They say their investigation is ongoing and more arrests are expected.
RCMP are looking for a suspect in thefts in Digby and Queens County. (RCMP photo)
RCMP in Queens County and Digby are looking for a person of interest in a break and enter at two businesses.
On Jan. 23, at 11:37 p.m., Digby RCMP responded to a commercial alarm on Prince William Street in Digby.
Somebody broke into the business through the front door and drove away in a blue Mazda with $8,000 in merchandise.
On Jan. 24, at 2:10 a.m., somebody stole a black and yellow 2004 Ford truck from R & C Weare Logging Ltd. in Harmony Mills, Queens County. Shortly afterward, the truck was found undamaged.
RCMP say surveillance footage from the area shows a man wearing a hat, a dark hoodie with CAT on the front and rubber boots.
RCMP are looking for a suspect in thefts in Digby and Queens County. (RCMP photo)
Anyone with information or who can identify the suspect is asked to contact the Digby RCMP Detachment at 902-245-2579 or Queens District RCMP at 902-354-5721. Or you can call Nova Scotia Crime Stoppers, anonymously and toll-free, at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). You can also submit a tip at www.crimestoppers.ns.ca.
