Canadian man pleads guilty in Hells Angels drug operation

A 38-year-old British Columbia man pleaded guilty this morning in U.S. District Court in Seattle to drug and money-laundering charges for his role in selling drugs on behalf of the Hells Angels motorcycle club.

Robert J. Shannon, of Maple Ridge, B.C., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering. He faces a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison up to life in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

According to the indictment originally filed in the case, Shannon was in charge of distributing the narcotics on behalf of the Hells Angels and others. Drugs were hidden inside hollowed-out logs on trucks, within the false walls of cargo containers and vehicles, within loads of commercial lumber and beauty bark, inside large PVC pipes, and within the interior of a propane tanker. Some loads were carried on foot across the international border between the U.S. and Canada.

Last month, co-defendant Devron D. Quast, 38, of Abbotsford, B.C., pleaded guilty to conspiracy to distribute cocaine and marijuana and conspiracy to engage in money laundering, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.