A Kelowna man allegedly behind the website ‘ChronFather’ is set to go on trial in Alberta next year. Chandler Cannon was charged with possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000 in Alberta after police raided several properties last December, including Cannon’s home in Kelowna, a second home in Kelowna and a farm property in Beaverdale. The police investigation began in April 2021, when the Calgary Police Service began investigating ChronFather.ca – an illegal online distributor of cannabis mushrooms and psilocybin. An undercover officer purchased $300 in psilocybin and $270 in cannabis through the website in 2021, prompting simultaneous search warrants to be executed at properties in Calgary, Kelowna and Beaverdale on December 7 and 8. Police say they seized 2,636 kilograms of dried cannabis and cannabis plants, 7.2 kilograms of chip, cannabis oils/resin and edibles, along with what they claimed was more than $85,000 worth of psilocybin in both dried and sticky forms. Chandler, 40, was arrested at his home in Kelowna, while his son, 20-year-old Tyson Ogilvie and 21-year-old Reid Dahl were arrested in Calgary. Now, Chandler is scheduled to go on trial in Calgary for possession of more than $5,000 in March next year. Meanwhile, Calgary residents Ogilvie and Dahl face charges of trafficking psilocybin mushrooms and cannabis and possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000. They are next scheduled to appear in Calgary court on Aug. 24, but a trial date has not yet been set for them. In addition to the criminal charges facing Cannon, the BC government is working to seize several properties it claims were used to commit crimes, including a property on Kelowna’s Rittich Street and Beaverdell’s Solomon Street where cannabis was allegedly grown. The government is also working to seize Chandler’s home in the Black Mountain area of Kelowna. The government is also seeking to seize more than $53,000 in cash police found at Cannon’s home, along with a 2019 Ford F350 registered to Cannon’s girlfriend. In addition, the government has frozen several bank accounts it claims contain money from the alleged criminal activity. The Director of Civil Forfeiture says this illegal activity includes drug trafficking, the sale and cultivation of illegal cannabis, laundering the proceeds of illegal activity and failure to declare taxable income. But despite those allegations, Chandler has only been criminally charged with one count of possession of proceeds of crime over $5,000. In his response to the forfeiture claim, Cannon denies all allegations made against him and claims the police violated his Charter rights during the investigation. While the Crown must prove criminal charges “beyond a reasonable doubt”, civil cases face a lower standard of proof – “on a balance of probabilities”. The Calgary Police Service claims thechronfather.ca raked in more than $11 million through illegal cannabis and mushroom sales in 2021 alone, before it was shut down in December. Police allege the venue had been operating since August 2018.
