A little over a year after he was convicted of illegally importing nearly 250 guns, a money-obsessed young gun smuggler has already been granted a one-day probation.
“These kinds of weapons are currently found on our streets, in the hands of our young people. It’s a metropolitan scourge,” the Parole Board of Canada said. [CLCC]Friday on William Rainville’s file.
At the same time, the commissioners commended the 25-year-old criminal’s recent rehabilitation efforts to get him out of the four walls of his cell and into a transitional home.
Photo Martin Alari
The Canada-US border crossed William Rainville’s Dundee estate in Montérégie.
Rainville, a former financial advisor at Desjardins, was sentenced to five years in prison last summer in connection with an impressive seizure of gun corpses at the border.
Unaware that he was being spied on by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), he crossed the Canada-US border six times on his property, pulling a sled loaded with hockey bags.
Photo provided by RCMP
A portion of 248 Glock-type Polymer80 carcasses hidden in sacks and seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on March 5, 2021.
The supply was stuffed in the pockets, but Rainville vowed Friday he didn’t know they were Glock-like Polymer80 parts without a serial number. Similar weapons are regularly found by police in Montreal shootings.
“When I opened the bags I said wow! ‘ he asserted during his hearing, adding that he wanted money for a real estate ‘flip’.
Photo provided by RCMP
A portion of 248 Glock-type Polymer80 carcasses hidden in sacks and seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on March 5, 2021.
Rainville insisted on his upbringing and flawless journey up to his arrest, blaming his setbacks primarily on his self-esteem, which had been “shattered” by a separation and suspension from his job at the time.
The smuggler then claimed that if he got involved in this arms import scheme, it was because of a long-standing “bad company” that had affected him badly. Obviously trying to present a good picture of himself, the trafficker explained that this person had to repay him a $7,000 loan.
He was then offered the opportunity to smuggle contraband through his home in Dundee, near the border, which would allow Rainville to recover a sum of $30,000 as a bonus.
“I’m not the head of the network,” he insisted, expressing little felt regret, a bit like a memorized text.
He then, glancing intermittently at his notes, explained that he had acted out of greed to “satisfy his need for approval” and would now turn the page. A tirade ensued in which he said he had conducted an introspection, using terms more commonly found in speaker accounts than in everyday language.
“I think I’m ready, it’s the right time to go out,” he assured the commissioners, adding he wanted to “stay humble”.
And the fact that he broke prison rules by smoking cannabis once while in detention doesn’t change that, he said.
After deliberation, and even if “the changes observed are recent and the work is far from complete,” the commissioners concluded that after hearing him, Rainville could indeed get his parole.
He has to live in a temporary home and his phone and financial records are being checked. During this time he is not allowed to meet with criminals.
– With Valerie Gonthier
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