{"id":4746,"date":"2025-06-16T19:00:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-17T02:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/4746\/province-wants-to-seize-alleged-montreal-sex-traffickers-bmw-after-kamloops-arrest\/"},"modified":"2025-06-16T19:00:14","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T02:00:14","slug":"province-wants-to-seize-alleged-montreal-sex-traffickers-bmw-after-kamloops-arrest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/news\/4746\/province-wants-to-seize-alleged-montreal-sex-traffickers-bmw-after-kamloops-arrest\/","title":{"rendered":"Province wants to seize alleged Montreal sex trafficker&#8217;s BMW after Kamloops arrest"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A Montreal gangster is accused of transporting women across provincial boundaries with his BMW, and the province wants to seize it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Pierre-Andre Baptiste was arrested in Kamloops at the end of 2024 for his alleged role in a Quebec killing, but authorities in BC have since decided to take his BMW SUV allegedly for its use in sex trafficking, according to court records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Since at least May 2024, he drove women between Alberta and BC, including youths, in a sex trade operation, according to a notice of claim filed by the BC Civil Forfeiture Office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">BC&#8217;s provincial gang enforcement unit arrested him in Kamloops on Dec. 11, 2024 and seized his 2018 BMW X5, according to the lawsuit filed, June 9.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He hasn&#8217;t yet responded in court, but it&#8217;s not the first time Baptiste has gone up against the Civil Forfeiture Office. He lost thousands of dollars last time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baptiste was arrested in Victoria in June 2023, charged with possession of a weapon, uttering threats and assault. It stemmed from a disagreement with someone about payment for sexual services, according to court documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Police seized a baton and nearly $15,000 in cash from his vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In his defence, Baptiste said the money was his and denied the criminal allegations. He said he worked part time as a hairdresser, a truck driver and a rapper signed to Laval, Quebec label Seiha Studios Inc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In August 2024, a BC Supreme Court judge ordered the money be surrendered to the province, with the exception of $3,700 that went to his Vancouver lawyer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Baptiste, also known by his stage name Bouldat, was one of three arrested in December 2024 in connection to gang-related Quebec killings,&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.lapresse.ca\/actualites\/justice-et-faits-divers\/2024-12-11\/cinq-suspects-arretes\/un-possible-frein-aux-gangs-de-rue.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">according to La Presse.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He was arrested for his alleged role in gang-related Quebec killings, but it&#8217;s ties to the sex trade that has authorities seeking to seize his BMW SUV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":426,"featured_media":4747,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"guid":"","source":"","byline":"","published":"","updated":"","_infotelid":"","_prepressid":"","_multisite_post_sync":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[492],"tags":[],"region":[206,207,208,209],"class_list":["post-4746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","region-kamloops","region-kelowna","region-penticton","region-vernon"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":7}},"post_modified":"2025-06-16T19:00:14","post_modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T02:00:14","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/hd-mediaitemid109584-8742.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/426"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4746"},{"taxonomy":"region","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging.infonews.ca\/inwheels\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/region?post=4746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}