Gang founder convicted in Surrey Six slayings denied parole

Gang founder convicted in Surrey 

Six slayings denied parole

October 20, 2015.

Red Scorpion gang founder Michael Le tried to convince the Parole Board of Canada Tuesday that he is a changed man and deserves to be freed despite his role in the 2007 Surrey Six murders.
But board members Laura Hall and Colleen Zuk decided that Le should remain in prison until January 2017 when his three-year sentence expires.
The board members ruled that Le, now 30, is still too great a risk to the community and should be denied statutory release after serving two-thirds of his term.
“The board finds there is not an adequate strategy to monitor your risk in the community,” Hall told Le, though she also said “it’s entirely possible that you have entered into a stage where you want to change your life.”
Le appeared before the board at an undisclosed location where he is being incarcerated. A Vancouver Sun reporter and other observers watched the hearing via video-link at the Correctional Service Canada’s regional headquarters in Abbotsford.
Le’s release was opposed by his parole officer who told the hearing that the former gang leader is likely to commit another act of violence if granted statutory release “based on his pattern of persistent violent behavior.”
She said Le’s violent offending began in his teenage years and continued through to the October 2007 plot to murder rival Corey Lal that spun out of control and resulted in his gang-mates killing six, including two innocent bystanders.
“He has long had the tendency to distance himself from the physical act of violence,” said the parole officer, who was not identified at the hearing.
She outlined a 2005 conviction for threatening a police officer and his family, as well as allegations of intimidation and manipulation of other inmates inside jail.
Both Hall and Zuk grilled Le on his professed reformation and his minimizing of the violence of the gang he founded.
Le said the Red Scorpion gang got much more violent when it amalgamated with the Bacon brothers in 2007.
Hall noted that Le only admitted that he condoned violence when in fact he “demanded it.”
“When you lived the live of gangster culture there is times when violence happened,” Le said.
Replied Hall: “People who worked under you went in and there was a slaughter.”
“That’s correct,” Le said.
He claimed he was so upset by the murders of Lal, his brother Michael, associates Ryan Bartolomeo, Eddie Narong and bystanders Christopher Mohan and Ed Schellenberg that he decided to quit his gang and change his life.
Mohan’s mother Eileen attended the hearing and read a victim impact statement.
“The type of death my son endured was the direct result of Mr. Le’s pivotal involvement,” Mohan told the board.
“I consider Mr. Le locked behind bars is living a life of luxury compared to what I have to face.”
Le, who could only be seen from behind, sobbed as Mohan spoke.
She said she didn’t agree with the plea bargain Le struck with the Crown in November 2013. While he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit murder, a murder charge against him was dropped.
He later testified against Red Scorpions Cody Haevischer and Matthew Johnston, who were convicted of all six murders.
“Crown and his lawyers agreed to this sweetheart deal,” Mohan said.
“To me it seems like Mr. Le got away with murder.”
Le apologized to Mohan and the other families of the victims, then laid out the steps he has taken to change his life, including his decision to testify.
Since his 2009 arrest, he has learned three languages in jail, taken an anti-violence program and gotten spiritual guidance from a Buddhist monk.
“I am asking you to release me on parole so I can prove I am a different person,” he urged. “I am now ready for the next chapter of my life.”