Arrested Tuesday for breaching court orders, Bradley Squires stands to lose a $10,000 surety when he appears in provincial court Wednesday morning.
Squires, 29, was originally arrested and charged with trafficking and conspiring to traffic cocaine as part of Operation Tarantula last August. He was released on a $10,000 surety from a family member with strict conditions, including that he abide by a curfew, present himself at the door if police visited his home and check in regularly at RNC headquarters.
When police knocked on his door around 4:30 Saturday morning and Squires didn't answer, he was charged with breaching his conditions and a warrant was issued for his arrest. Squires was taken into custody Tuesday morning, when he went to sign in at police headquarters as required.
A surety is a person who promises to supervise an accused person while they are out of custody on bail, and who pledges an amount of money to the court for their release. The surety risks losing some or all of the money if the accused breaks any of their release conditions.
A typical surety is in the range of $500 to $2,000; $10,000 is relatively rare and generally required in more serious cases.
Operation Tarantula was a joint RNC/RCMP investigation into the alleged criminal activities of Dustin Etheridge and his associates. The investigation crossed several provincial boundaries and required the co-operative assistance of the federal and provincial RCMP in Newfoundland and Labrador (B Division), the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary, federal RCMP in New Brunswick (J Division), Nova Scotia (H Division), Quebec (C Division) and the York Regional Police.
The operation resulted in the arrest of Etheridge and John Squires, 34, last spring on charges of conspiracy to murder, drug offences, and offences related to a loaded handgun. A number of other arrests followed, including that of Bradley Squires.
As a result of Etheridge and Squires’ arrests, search warrants were executed at several residences, hotels, businesses and vehicles in the St. John’s metro area on May 17. Among the items seized were seven kilograms of cocaine; about $240,000 in cash; 20 firearms, including two handguns and ammunition; a 2014 Cadillac CTS and a 2012 Dodge Dually truck; and drug trafficking paraphernalia such as cash counters, score sheets, etc.
Related story:
Operation Tarantula nets six men on charges of plotting to murder, cocaine trafficking
