Bacon

Hornets' Dwayne Bacon: Sent to G League

Bacon was assigned to the G League on Friday, Rick Bonnell of The Charlotte Observer reports.

Bacon has seen spot run lately, appearing in just one game since the beginning of February. Per usual, the organization will attempt to get him more on-court time by sending him to the G League.

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Former 'good friend' testifies Jamie Bacon ordered man's death

A key Crown witness in the case against James Kyle Bacon says Bacon, his "good friend," ordered an associate killed in 2008, and he was there for the planning and execution of the failed hit.

Bacon was charged in 2014 with counselling an associate to commit murder.

He's accused of counselling others to kill Dennis Karbovanec who was shot in Mission on Dec. 31, 2008 — but survived.

On Thursday, a man who can only be identified as AB testified in B.C. Supreme Court there was a plan to kill Karbovanec.

Bacon allegedly 'ordered' kill

He said that plan involved staging a marijuana grow-op rip with four other men and that Bacon "was the one who ordered it."

© CBC CBC

AB's real identity is protected by a sweeping court-ordered set of publication bans to protect witnesses.

AB said Bacon called Karbovanec a "scumbag," and accused the associate of ripping off OxyContin for personal use.

Bacon felt that Karbovanec was attracting unwanted police attention, said AB.

"[Bacon] explained to me what he wanted done and I said I wasn't really interested in that," AB told court. "Jamie said it would be better if Dennis was not around."

AB testified that, while he did not shoot or participate, he was there with four other men in Mission the night of the attempt on Karbovanec's life.

"I seen (them) firing and trying to kill Dennis Karbovanec." 

He described the gun used as a "small, mini-Glock."

Drugs delivered 'like pizza'

The witness described his years as a mid-level dial-a-dope drug dealer who helped source and deliver, "like pizza," everything from marijuana and steroids to cocaine and crack.

The witness said he dealt drugs and was once good friends with Baon.

He said he'd known Karbovanec for a long time and described him as an enforcer.

"He'd take care of any problems that needed to be sorted out on the street and any violent aspect of it," said AB Thursday morning.

But the witness said there were concerns in his world if anybody started attracting too much police attention — something to be avoided, resulting in a person being described as a "heat bag" or a "heat score."

He outlined to the jury all the methods his associates used to keep a low profile and avoid getting caught.

He said that dealers used prepaid burner phones, never talked in cars and used a lot of hand signals — such as a hand mimicking a gun for the word gun or a thumb drawn across the throat to symbolize wanting to have a person killed.

He said that Bacon would even use an erasable white board to write messages — to avoid verbalizing anything criminal.

That board was then wiped, AB explained. He said that he and Bacon even had a D-shaped hand symbol for Karbovanec.

The trial which began in early February is expected to last 10 weeks.

REAL SCOOP: Former Bacon associate testifies against him

Jamie Bacon in an undated photo.

The first of two former associates of Jamie Bacon has taken the stand against him. The man, who can only be identified as AB, said he was a good friend of Bacon’s, as well as a business partner in the drug trade.

Here’s my story:

When Jamie Bacon drew his finger across his throat after giving a hand signal for his pal Dennis Karbovanec, his former drug trafficking associate says he knew what Bacon wanted done.

The associate, who can only be identified as AB due to a publication ban, testified in B.C. Supreme Court on Thursday that Bacon’s cryptic hand gestures in December 2008 were telling him that Karbovanec had to be killed.

And within weeks, on New Year’s Eve 2008, AB and another associate who can be identified only as CD met Karbovanec at a park in Mission in an attempt to shoot him on Bacon’s orders, AB told jurors and Justice Catherine Wedge.

Bacon is charged with one count of counselling someone to commit murder for his alleged role in the unsuccessful attempt on Karbovanec’s life.

The shooting happened on a dead-end street called Bench Ave. where the group had driven in two cars that night on the pretense of preparing to rob a nearby drug house, AB said.

Once at the location, AB was standing next to Karbovanec showing him drawings of the target house when CD got out of one of the vehicles “and starts firing,” AB testified.

“I am kind of, like, shocked that he is firing because I am standing right next to Dennis when he starts shooting,” he said. “He lets off a few shots, the gun jams, the clip drops out. He quickly sticks another clip in, racks the gun back, which is cocking the gun, so is getting another bullet in the chamber and then starts firing.”

AB said eight to 10 shots were fired in total, but that Karbovanec managed to escape by jumping into some nearby bushes and running through a ravine.

AB said Bacon ordered the 2008 hit because he believed Karbovanec was a “scumbag” who had “done all kinds of terrible things and was bringing a lot of heat — unwanted police attention to all of us.”

AB said he agreed to be part of the murder plot even though it “caught me off guard” when Bacon said he wanted Karbovanec dead.

AB said he made it clear to Bacon that he wouldn’t be the actual shooter, although he agreed to help with the murder. “I am not the type of guy to kill somebody,” he testified.

He said Bacon was also concerned that Karbovanec might “be working with the police or possibly informing the police about some things, and was bringing unwanted negative police attention.”

CD, another drug trafficker who owed Bacon a lot of money at the time, agreed to be the shooter, “because that is the way he could work off his debt. … In the drug business, if you owe someone a lot of money, you have to either pay it back or work it off somehow,” AB said.

AB said Bacon told him to lure Karbovanec out on Dec. 31 by explaining that their crew had to rob another drug dealer.

At first, Karbovanec refused to participate in the robbery and AB had to get a note from Bacon to deliver to Karbovanec, AB testified.

The note, delivered earlier Dec. 31, told Karbovaenc “to grow a set of balls and come out and do this job with me and for him not to have a gun on him. And that if he doesn’t want to, he’s done with us,” AB told jurors.

After reading Bacon’s message, Karbovanec agreed to meet AB, CD and two others that night.

AB said that he and CD and their driver fled after the unsuccessful hit, driving in a stolen Ford Bronco to another dead-end street where they abandoned the vehicle and attempted to light it on fire.

They then fled down a path through a wooded area that they called the Love Forest where AB told CD to throw away the Glock .45 he had used in the shooting.

He said he heard the gun make a splash, so assumed it had landed in a creek.

AB said he was very upset with CD because of the failed hit.

CD also “knew he just f—ed up a big job … because he just failed to kill Dennis. He failed to kill one of our friends that is in our crew,” AB testified.

The trial continues.

kbolan@postmedia.com

blog: vancouversun.com/tag/real-scoop

twitter.com/kbolan

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