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Chilliwack gangster pleads guilty 9 years after being caught processing a mountain of cocaine

This ends the trafficking case against Clayton Eheler but he also faces a criminal organization charge
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Clayton Eheler. (Facebook)

Eight years, four months, and 15 days after Clayton Eheler was caught with Matthew Thiessen processing a mountain of cocaine in a Brett Avenue apartment, the well-known Chilliwack gangster finally pleaded guilty.

Eheler was already convicted of cocaine trafficking and sentenced to more than eight years in prison back in November 2019.

He used several legal manoeuvres over the years to get bail, making Charter applications, and eventually appealing the decision to the highest court in B.C. where he was successful on Aug. 27, 2021.

But the B.C. Court of Appeal did not order the charges dropped as Eheler and Thiessen wanted, rather they were ordered to face a new trial.

READ MORE: High-level Chilliwack drug trafficker successful at BC Court of Appeal

Fast forward to Jan. 30, 2023 when co-accused Thiessen pleaded guilty. He is scheduled for sentencing on Sept. 6.

Eheler, 40, pleaded guilty on Monday (April 3), and the file was put over to another date to fix a date for sentencing.

In the meantime, last summer Eheler was also charged with commission of an offence for a criminal organization related to an allegation from May 1, 2021 in Chilliwack, Hope and Kamloops.

That case was put over to April 18, also to fix a next court date.

Eheler and Thiessen appealed their original trafficking conviction on the ground that it took too long for the sentencing judge to release his written reasons for rejecting a charter application. The B.C. Court of Appeal allowed the appeal and ordered the new trial.

On July 28, 2022, Surrey Judge David Albert granted Eheler bail despite the fact that when Eheler was out on bail in 2019, he was issued a fraudulent passport in his cousin’s name. It took facial recognition software used by Global Affairs Canada to identify Eheler as the man in the passport photo with Tyler Van Basten’s name.

Two months later he was caught allegedly violating conditions. Then on Nov. 24, Eheler, who was then representing himself, was back in front of Judge Albert in Surrey who granted Eheler bail again.

Crown brought the two files, the drug trafficking from 2014 and the criminal organization case from 2021, to B.C. Supreme Court to revoke his bail this week. That’s when Eheler pleaded guilty to the drug trafficking, and Crown withdrew the application regarding bail.

Eheler remains out on bail pending his next court appearance on both charges

READ MORE: If a gangster who once acquired a fraudulent passport while out on bail can get bail, can anyone?

READ MORE: Chilliwack gangster Clayton Eheler back in custody after being out on bail


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