Imposter cell phones in the Amero, Alkhalil, Wiwchar trial

This is a wild one. After I posted a link to Dean Wiwchar's sentencing and a whole list of decisions the court recently posted on their website since his trial is over and the publication ban has been fulfilled, one commenter mentions imposter cell phones in the Aug 19th 2025 decision.

I had glanced over that decision but wasn't sure what the cell phone concern was about. After they mentioned the term imposter cells phones I found the answer and it's astounding. 

[15] "On or about August 8, 2012, the police executed search warrants at the Montreal penthouse suite that Mr. Wiwchar's former co‑accused, Larry Amero and Rabih Alkhalil, occupied. A number of electronic devices were seized during that search, including the three cellphones designated 18LW, 19LW, and 58LW. It is what happened to these three cellphones after they were in police custody in the VPD Property Office and their subsequent disappearance or removal and replacement that has spawned the current application and other related applications." [15]

The two phones that were lost and replaced while in police custody were two of the three phones originally seized from Larry and Robby's condo in Montreal. 

That's huge. Was that gang influence or the Five Eyes? We know the FBI were behind the Phantom Secure Blackberries.

As we recall, Dean Larry and Robby were all tried together but for some reason Dean's case was separated from Larry and Robby's. This decision explains why.

"Mr. Wiwchar's discharged his counsel in February 2022. On March 7, 2022, Maisonville J. severed Mr. Wiwchar from the trial after he had dismissed his counsel. The trial of Amero and Alkhalil continued before the jury." [17-19]

"Proceedings against Mr. Wiwchar recommenced in September 2022 and have a tortured history of starts and stops, largely due to Mr. Wiwchar's dismissal of three further different sets of defence counsel. As a result, he is now self‑represented." [20]

"Amici were appointed to assist the Court in March 2023 and have been doing so ever since. Amici have managed to develop a good working relationship with Mr. Wiwchar and, although not his counsel, they have provided him with considerable assistance and support in navigating the proceedings and ensuring his positions are fully developed and explained to the Court." [21]

So Dean's trial was separated from Larry and Robby after he fired his lawyer. Then he fired three more lawyers after that. Amici appears to be another name for Duty counsel. A free lawyer the court assigns people who are self represented.

"As noted previously, three cellphones seized during the Project Reality investigation are now no longer in the possession of the VPD. 18LW appears to have been lost. 19LW and 58LW were removed from the VPD Property Office by someone and replaced with two other cellphones, the imposter phones which were marked as trial exhibits 205 and 206. One of the two imposter phones was not password protected. Forensic digital examinations of this cellphone, Exhibit 205, revealed a secure wipe of it on or about June 9, 2021. Placed on the cellphone was a memo written in French." [22]

"2022.03.10 – Det. Wu cross-examined and produces 19LW and 58LW; Discovers that 19LW and 58LW are not same phones as seized originally – imposter phones marked as court exhibits 205 and 206."

"2022.04.20 – Order to release 205 to extract all non-encrypted data (discovered that phone was wiped on June 9, 2021 and contained a memo alleging corruption by police)"

Corruption by Police or the Five Eyes?

"a more detailed picture of the convoluted history behind Police Exhibits 18LW, 19LW, and 58LW is found in Justice Maisonville's ruling on Mr. Alkhalil's lost evidence application indexed at 2022 BCSC 1106." [24] 

That decisions shows a detailed timeline of events.

"It points to an admission at trial (Ex. 310) that “the police extracted data from trial exhibit 205 and located a user-created file indicating that the substitution of police exhibit 19LW for trial exhibit 205 was a deliberate act by an unknown party”. The Crown says that the VPD Property Office was deliberately targeted and infiltrated, and that exhibits were stolen and replaced in an attempt to pervert the course of this trial." [59]

That decisions ended with "In all of the circumstances, I conclude that the loss of police exhibits 18LW and 19LW were not occasioned by unacceptable negligence on the part of the VPD." [79] Someone stole the exhibits after they had extracted the data from them. Either criminals or the Five Eyes. The data is found in Dean's agreed Statement of Facts.

If Larry Amero is willing to spend $200,000 to have a rival drug dealer killed by his own crew, I have no doubt he is willing to spend at least that on a dirty cop to steal a cell phone from an evidence locker. No doubt this is why Larry thought he was going to get off.