NEWS RELEASE
ONTARIO PROVINCIAL POLICE
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CHAPLEAU – On Jan. 30, 2021, at approximately 6:30 a.m., members of the Superior East Detachment of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) responded to a residence where a 35-year-old person was found unresponsive and was later pronounced deceased. On Feb. 2, 2021, at approximately 5:15 p.m., officers performed a well-being check on a 55-year-old person and found them deceased inside their residence. Both deaths are suspected to be due to opiate overdoses.
On Feb. 4, 2021, at approximately 8:40 a.m., members of the OPP Northeast Region Community Street Crime Unit (CSCU) and the Nishnawbe Aski Police Service (NAPS) executed two Controlled Drugs and Substances Act (CDSA) search warrants at two residences on Brunswick House First Nation near Chapleau.
A search of both residences yielded quantities of suspected opiates, amphetamines and other evidence of drug trafficking. As a result of the investigation, two people were arrested and charged.
April Tangie, 29 years-of-age, from Brunswick House First Nation, was charged with the following:
- Traffick in schedule I substance - other drugs, contrary to section 5(1) of the CDSA, and
- Possession of a schedule I substance - opioid (other than heroin), contrary to section 4(1) of the CDSA.
Kelly Bernier, 38 years-of-age, from Brunswick House First Nation, was charged with the following:
- Traffick in schedule I substance - opioid (other than heroin), contrary to section 5(1) of the CDSA, and
- Possession of a schedule I substance - opioid (other than heroin), contrary to section 4(1) of the CDSA.
Both accused parties have been released and are scheduled to appear before the Ontario Court of Justice on April 19, 2021, in Chapleau.
The Sault Ste. Marie OPP Crime Unit is continuing this investigation under the direction of the OPP's Criminal Investigation Branch.
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